I think we were all (at least) a little surprised by yesterday afternoon’s breaking news of Katie Holmes filing for divorce from her husband of five years, Tom Cruise. The news came right in the midst of our story about the increasing distance between the couple, and while it’s been very obvious for quite awhile that Katie was unhappy — she was virtually telegraphing a chronic state of disillusionment and depression — it’s rather shocking that she made such a huge move in filing for divorce and going for full legal custody (as well as primary residential custody) of Suri. She also strategically planned for this to all go down while Tom was on extended trip out of the country (in Iceland shooting Oblivion). Go Katie.

As for Tom himself, he’s probably still shellshocked at being served with divorce papers. He has released a very short statement to People indicating that he is “deeply saddened.” Tom also turns 50-years-old next week, and even though he was planning on working through his birthday with no real break to see his family, this news is sure to rock his figurative world. So here is a post with some updates since yesterday, and if anything else breaks today, I’ll post more updates below.

To start off, here’s an interesting look back at Katie and Tom’s 2006 wedding day with some photos of Katie (with Suri) looking very panicked in the window of the Italian castle where she and Tom exchanged whacked-out Scientology vows. If it tells you anything at all, Tom’s best man was the current head of the CO$, David Miscavige:

So what went wrong? At the time of their marriage, Katie had already revealed that she had harbored dreams of marrying Tom since she was a young girl. I think that very little (even the mysterious distressed state revealed in these photos) could have kept her from the altar because she was very much in love with a fantasy. Let’s face it — the Tom Cruise of Risky Business, Cocktail, and Jerry Maguire was pretty damn hot, and it wasn’t really until Tom’s epic display of 2005 craziness that most of the world realized what a freak he really was. At that point, Katie was already in too deep to see the signs before agreeing to become the Bride of Xenu. Now TMZ has spoken to some inside sources who claim that Katie’s breaking point with the marriage was Scientology:

Katie Holmes filed for divorce primarily over Tom Cruise’s fierce ties to Scientology, fearing that Tom would drag Suri deep into the church … sources connected with the couple tell TMZ.

Our sources say … Katie has never been fully committed to Scientology, even though she has had ties with the church. We’re told the couple had been arguing over Suri — that she’s now of the age where Scientology becomes a significant part of her life.

Sources familiar with the split tell us Katie is filing for sole legal custody — as we first reported — specifically because she does not want Tom to control decisions relating to religion.

Sources have told us that the divorce is NOT about money — we’re told Katie doesn’t need Tom’s money … because she has plenty of it … and will be well taken care of under the terms of the prenup.

On a more selfish note on my behalf, I can’t wait until Tom starts dating again after this divorce blows over (and I anticipate that it will take many months). Certainly, the crop of actresses willing to date him won’t be very large considering what the internet has uncovered about Scientology in the past five years. Kaiser thinks Jennifer Love Hewitt will still go there, and I think that Julianne Hough would have been a willing candidate if she wasn’t already tied to Mormonism. Rest assured that Tom hates to be single, and he (or David Miscavige) will eventually find someone for him to spend time with, but maybe he’ll at least be smart enough to stay away from couch jumping next time around.

Here’s a look back at the infancy of the Cruise-Holmes marriage. This photo of Tom dancing is so … painful.

UPDATE: Radar is reporting that Katie prepared for the divorce by secretly renting a NYC apartment for her and Suri to move into once the news dropped yesterday. Hopefully, they won’t be bringing any of their old CO$ spies/servants along with them.

If Tom had stayed away from Scientology, everything would have been ok. The only way Tom could redeem himself now would be to cut ALL ties with this cult. Auditing schmauditing. He still has some good in him. Team Katie….I represent the women in the 40-50 age range on her side. Keep Suri and yourself safe Katie!!!!

@ChaCha I’m speechless all I can say is “that’s not nice” which is how you know I’m speechless. The breach of ethics is phenomenal – I WANT TO KNOW WHAT THEY SAY, DANGIT!

However, I’m a nosy person who is not pretending to be TC’s BFF and religious adviser.

WTH is auditing anyway?

I don’t think I know more than Katie did about this Scientology thing. I just know its bad, it’s a cult and it was founded by a paranoid and horribly bad sci fi writer. I grew up in LA, she probably had no clue.

Wow, you know something’s a big story when we get an update on a Saturday.
I reckon she definitely did it to get Suri away from the Co$ as she’s coming up to school age, isn’t she? I wouldn’t want any kid going to that institution place, let alone my own. Good on Katie for doing it. I think that alone is reason enough to give her full custody.
I can’t wait for the dating too, it’s going to be real popcorn worthy stuff ^^ My money’s on Julianne Hough being the next beard. Katie was a super strict Catholic before all this so I wouldn’t put it past Julianne being brainwashed either. She never seemed like she was the brightest bulb in the box. And she gushes over him in interviews 0_0

I’m sorry but she’s responsible for all of this, TC makes it clear they will all live under scientology rules, her friends and family warned her against this, but she still married him and choose to bring a child into this mess . She’s actually no better than any other gold digger.

I don’t think she realized at the beginning how deep the scientology controlling the life of their member. She was blinded by her own fantasy and crush with Tom, against the warning of her family and friends.

Bubulle: Bottom line, Katie is not a gold digger. If she were a gold digger she would stay in the marriage longer, as her pre-nup states that after 11 years she gets half of Tom’s net worth. Yes, she will get some money now (after 5 years of marriage) but she didn’t marry Tom for his money. Tom Cruise was her fantasy man — She probably would have married him for free. None of this has to do with money. It’s about taking back her life and ensuring a healthy future for her daughter. I commend her for doing this because to me it proves that the money doesn’t matter to her — her daughter is all that matters. Go Katie!!!

She is responsible for this. But it doesn’t make me feel less sorry for her. I think she let her naivete get the better of her in this. Plus she got swept off her feet and bombarded with private jet rides, money and gifts. So while yes, she should have been wiser and known better and maybe less of a gold digger, I think she let herself be blinded by Tom and when she realized the mess she was in, it was way too late.

Talk about harsh comments @ Bubulle. Perhaps ur criticism should be directed at Tom. He orchestrated and manipulated their relationship from day one.

Katie was very young when she met Tom, obviously naive, and not exactly worldly. Until his couch jumping incident, Tom was considered to be one of the most charismatic, intense, ambitious, and interesting men in Hollywood. Yes, he showered her with flowers, gifts, trips, as he did with Nicole, but that doesn’t mean she fell in love with his money. As she said in one interview, she fell in love with him within minutes of their first meeting.

She was a young girl who got caught up in a whirlwind relationship with an older, more experienced man, and had the misfortunate of getting pregnant two months into the relationship. If anything, Tom manipulated her by taking all steps to ensure she got deeply involved in every aspect of his life from the get go. I don’t doubt he got her pregnant on purpose. He micromanaged and controlled every aspect of her life and kept her isolated from everyone. Once Suri came along, he put his career first, and left her to raise their daughter. IF anything, the harsh comments should be directed at Tom.

@Leeloo why feel sorry for Katie ? She’s now richer and more famous than she has ever been, she still can find someone, try to revive her acting career and she would still has Suri even if she has to share custody with the psycho guy.

@emmieapricot,
Sorry to break it to you, but the money is a huge part of the whole deal. Sure she could have TRIED to ride it out to 11 years, but we all know how that would have ended up. Tommy-girl would have filed for divorce just under the line, exactly as he’d done to Nik. So there was NEVER any chance of Katie getting half of his money.
As for her ‘not needing his money, she has her own’, as you and her lawyer claim, that is ridiculous also.
Of course she can say she ‘does not need his money’, as in she’s not asking for spousal support, because it is already automatic as part of their pre-nup that she gets $3Mil per year of marriage. So she is walking away with a cool $15Mil OF HIS MONEY, plus whatever she gets in child support. So do not buy the BS of that ‘I’m so classy I do not need his money’ statement.
She will be living off his money for the rest of her life.
Not that I begrudge her, she had lived with a nutjob for 5 years, so maybe she does deserve it. But she will never not look like a gold digger to a lot of people.

Also, she was not a ‘young girl’ who got swept away, blabla… She was 26 years old! That is a fully conscious, aware adult. Had she been 16, then it’s a different story. But at 26 wilfully sticking your head in the sand and pretending not to see the worrisome signs is not ‘error of youthfulness’, it is willful stupidity and intentional blindness brought on by greed, be it for power, money, or fame.

It might be a performance or manipulative “love-bombing”, but at least in most of the visual evidence of their relationship, Tom Cruise is into her in the photos (except for those Lainey amply documented, where he was ‘presenting’ her by weirdly holding her by the elbow). Katie Holmes, on the other hand, is always “love-bombing” the camera.

Sorry, some element of shortcut-to-A-list seems to have played a big part in this. Fact is, everything she undertook in her career since this relationship started has not gone well: her movie options or her absurd clothes-designing. Meanwhile Michelle Williams is up for an Oscar.

I think the trade-offs were getting fewer and fewer over time. Having strong parents providing reality checks on a consistent basis probably helped not lose perspective completely.

ITA. 26 is NOT a young girl. Especially considering she had worked in Hollywood for YEARS by then, which should have made her savvy enough to the ways of the superrich and powerful.

Remember she was engaged to Chris Klein before she met Tom. He even spent 100k on the ring, which was way beyond his pay grade. She broke it off with him, probably b/c his career tanked after American Pie.

Then she took up with Tom Cruise who showered her with diamond necklaces. If he had been broke, she never would have married him. It was all at least partly about money too.

Yeah, she did absolutely good taking her child away from those nut-cases before they got their dirty hands on her FULL-TIME.
I mean, they already probably did install some pretty troubling ideas in her young brain (imagine, they believe that children are really only small adults who can experience the same activities as grown ups!), even though Katie managed to keep Suri close to her at all times. Think of exactly what kind of upbringing and teachings they would have given Suri! I wonder if there was some particular event, besides her reaching age for indoctrination, that hurried Katie…?

Also, about the Catholic comment: you are absolutely right, Katie was Catholic, and I’ve been noticing for a while that those SciCrazies (Cruise especially) LOVE to turn Catholics to their own personal robo-wives. Jenna Elfman, Nicole Kidman, Katie Holmes… I believe that has something to do with the Satanic foundations of that cult and Hobbard’s crazy Satanic activities (he aborted fetuses himself, with his own hands, for crying out loud). I imagine they get a perverse kick out of imposing their “rituals” on their “historical opponents” in belief.

Before Tom Cruise, Katie was lucky enough to be surrounded by a caring and loving family, she was in a real and serious relationship and even if she was not a big star she still got parts in decent movies, but she wanted more and willingly sold her soul to the devil to achieve her goal, I just can’t respect people like her.

Suri was several months old when Tom and Katie got married. She got pregnant out of wedlock and her Catholic upbringing precluded an abortion and probably played an important part in her decision to marry her baby daddy even though she had to know by then how much CO$ dominates Tom’s life. Although, he did put up a good front and hide the crazy from everyone fro years… imagine how he must have dazzled her in the beginning.

@gg – Sadly, you are wrong. Men can and do orchestrate pregnancies. Here is a study that shows 15% of women reported birth control sabotage (switching out or destroying BC pills, taking off the condom during sex) from men who wanted to get them pregnant. That doesn’t count the much higher numbers of women sexually coerced (like maybe by a manipulative cult member, cough cough) or raped to impregnate them against their will. The more you know!http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2010-01/uoc–rco012010.php

I posted on the previous blog that I definitely see Jennifer Love Hewitt with the most potential to be the next Mrs. Cruise. I’m glad Kaiser agrees.
JLH is sooooo F-ing desperate for any male attention, she’s practically begged Adam Levine publicly to be her boyfriend. With standards like these you are pretty much telegraphing that you will put up with anything, as long as you get something out of it as well.
Plus, she would be most likely even more gaga over Tommy-girl, if he asked her out, than Katie ever was. She’s probably get pregnant, intentionally, on that very first date.

It makes sense that he would go for a Scientologist next time. Both of his high profile divorces have been over the cult. By marrying a devoted scientologist, he wouldn’t have to worry about any more high profile failures.

I keep reading all of these comments about Katie being a “super strict Catholic”. If she, in truth, was a practicing Catholic, true to what the Church teaches, she never would have married a twice divorced man, she never would have converted to Scientology or had anything to do with it, she wouldnt have been having premarital sex, and she wouldn’t have taken on many of the roles she has (many of which were very scandalous). While she may have been some sort of Catholic at some point in her life, her behavior is not that of a devout Catholic, let alone a “super strict” one. You don’t just leave the Church like that if you truly believe what you pray at Mass.

I agree. I was raised in a pretty devout home and if I’d even lived with my husband before marriage, the pearls not only would have been clutched, but rather pulled so hard they’d come unstrung. Strangely enough, I didn’t receive too much resistance in marrying a non-practicing Jewish man. My dad initially warned me, but that was it and he accepted it. Now my MIL, who appears not to believe in anything but does do the Jewish traditions like seder meals, was strongly opposed.

Anyhow, I believe but no longer practice. I think Katie is probably about the same. I do think she was dazzled by it all at first and didn’t know what she was getting into. How long will it be before we see tabloid covers saying she’s seeking support from Nicole? I give it a couple of weeks. She’d actually probably be wise to talk to her.

I think Toms next beard..uh..girlfriend should be Leighton Meester. She is forever in Blakes shadow and this would definatly bring her out of that. Jennifer Love Hewitt is too old. Mimi, Nicole and now Katie are/were all 33 yrs old when they announced that they were gettting divorced so thats why I think Leighton would fit. Shes 26, they could date a year, get married and divorced by the time shes 33. As for Julianne, shes with Ryan Seacrest and I think he is very powerful in the industry and shed be stupid to leave.

I think 5.5 years is the length of time her parents spent very…patiently…working on her. They have finally achieved some success and are guiding her through this next step. (I will not forget the shock that they expressed as Katie entered into this entire farce).

@Vesper so she was very young and naive, before Katie TC tried to lure Scarlett Johansson and Jessica Alba both are younger than Katie but they didn’t bite, enough with the excuses just admit she let greed blindsided her. And Tom Cruise reputation wasn’t as damage as it is now but still he was still seen as a creep because of the cult and what he did to Nicole Kidman, when Katie start hooking up with him lots of people said they were disappointed because it was really obvious at that time she was with him to get a career boost.

You know what Bubulle – your repetitive posts are showing you up as a Co$ shill hired to comment. Is it really necessary to hammer the point over and over that this naive chick is really a vicious, bloodsucking horror?

Woah. Just read the ‘W’ mag piece–that was a SERIOUSLY frightening article. In retrospect it’s as surreal the footage of Princess Charlene—I can comprehend that it even happened, despite seeing it all unfold. To quote the movie ‘My Week With Marilyn” she’s ten feet under water.

All the more reason why I am so SO proud of Katie Holmes for getting away from what was obviously an unhealthy, toxic environment. Stay strong, Katie! People all over America are cheering for you.

That was really creepy. Thanks for posting this. Every answer to each question was so odd. I’ve been very in love before and I never went around telling people how he’s the man of my dreams. I know people fall in love differently, but this was SO weird.

OMG she sounds so demented, as if she has been brain-washed or something. Either that or she was madly deeply in love with TC and could not believe her luck! She didn’t even respond to questions, kept talking about how amazing TC is, how perfect, OMG.

This reminds me of Aishwarya Rai and Salman Khan. When Aish first hit the scene after winning Ms. World title, she mentioned in an article thats he has a huge crush on Salman Khan, another actor. They started dating soon after, they were a hot couple and acted together in movies. Salman has a reputation of helping his GFs in their career, a big boost for Aish. Soon after, he started getting physically violent with her and she stopped dating him. He also trashed movie sets where she worked, got into fights with her new BF, etc. It was crazy.

I guess I understand that Katie was so madly in love that she didn’t see anything else, she was only 26! I do hope she is able to take Suri away from that religion.

What got me then, and is still chilly today, is the repeated mantra of ‘Tom is the greatest or words to that effect’ as the answer to every question, until later they say that a c0$ handler is in the room with them. it makes you wonder what her answers would have otherwise been. And of course the classic TC pr move……delivery of an expensive present in the middle of the interview…..he always did that in all the Kidman interviews, sometimes showing up ‘unexpectedly’ and love bombing her in front of the interviewer. it was creepy when he did it with Kidman, and supercreepy in the context of this strange interview.

This bit is hilarious:
… around the time when Holmes met Cruise. (Holmes prefers to keep the details of the couple’s first date to herself, but Cruise is said to have invited her to a sushi dinner on his plane.) …

This bit is revealing about how it’s sold to already-religious people:
On the day we meet, Holmes tells me she’s not a Scientologist. (Three days later, in Europe, she will announce that she has converted.) “You know, it’s really exciting,” the actress says of the religion. “I just started auditing”—Scientology’s word for receiving spiritual counseling—“and I’m taking some courses, and I really like it. I feel it’s really helping. What I like about it is that, you know, I was raised Catholic, and you can be a Catholic and a Scientologist, Jewish and a Scientologist.”

It’s sad that cults often appeal to idealistic yet simplistic people, who want one simple ‘answer’ to everything. In the case of Scientology, I think it also appeals to the ambitious, who want to join a secret society that they believe will promote their careers. As I understand it, other cults function this way as well.

It would be nice if after all the recent PR disasters for L.Ron’s ‘church’, Travolta and Cruise both dropped out.

That article was so creepy that I am actually amazed. My jaw was hanging open when she started doing splits and yelling “he’s my man!”.
I just think that this woman needs to write a book. Not some cheap “tell all” by a ghost writer. As she has matured I think she comes off as a very intelligent woman. I bet she could write a great novel about whatever crazy shenanigans they did to her, and how she overcame it. She was FAR GONE in the brain in 2005, and now she’s thinking again.. What happened to her?!?

Still think Katie is a smirking, calculating gold-digger– teaming up with her Lawyer Father. Katie is not some lost little girl..she witnessed Nicole in horrible pain, losing her children to a controlling-rich cult freak. Katie took a calculated risk..wake up!! She wasn`t even DList when she hooked up with Tommy. I bet Katie is getting way more money than what is being revealed. Nicole Kidman is an Oscar Winning actress, respected. Katie is a joke. Nicole messes with her face too much, but NK has substance. I would never marry a man that destroyed his most recent ex-wife. I feel badly for Suri. Oh well, at least she will never be hungry or homeless.

I wish I had her short little bob in those pics. I think she genuinely was hot for him and bought into the fantasy. I also don’t think the kid is Tom’s. Listen, she was really young when she met him. I have knowledge and insight into people’s characters now that I never had when I was in my 20s (but I’m far from perfect and still make mistakes). They could have told her all the sh*t up front about his craziness and the Scientology crap, and that probably wouldn’t have stopped her from marrying him. What’s that quote from Maya Angelou – “When someone shows you who they are, believe them.” I wonder if they ever had sex.

@ Lauren: For the most part, Nicole’s career did not take off until after her breakup with Tom. According to Tom’s unauthorized biography, Tom’s people made a lot of threats towards her and she was convinced her career was over.

@Vesper – people forget that about Kidman. She was an up and coming actress, not a star when she married Tom Cruise, and for the most part barely worked and when she did, her films tanked or were terrible.

As she herself says that when she worked with Jane Campion in 1995/6 is when she realised the need to pick good parts.

Her career really did not take off properly until she divorced Tom Cruise. The only notable exception to her decade long dud of a career whilst married to TC was TO DIE FOR in 1995. There was the rumour that her contract had clauses about the lift TC would give her career if she remained married for 10yrs. And that she genuinely fell in love and didn’t believe he would hold to the 10yr end which is why she was so shocked when it happened. The contract Clause rumour is also why people thought her career took off so quickly immediately after the divorce.

It’s interesting that she started to flex her career muscles at the 5yr mark so perhaps she could have stayed in the marriage longer and succeeded in weaning him off co$ because he wasn’t as dedicated to it then as he became in later years.

I believe Suri and CO$ is why she pulled the plug, and I applaud her for it. I’m thinking she was fairly miserable as well. I’ve always liked her since back in the day, so I hope she can get away from him and find a normal life for her and Suri, away from CO$.
And FWIW, I doubt TC was as shocked and surprised as TMZ made it sound. I think he will play that up for sympathy though.

True. The scientology surely play a big role of her decision to escape this marriage together with her daughter since the cult itself is like the third person in their marriage. I have more respect for her since I reeeally never thought that she would be the one who filled for the divorce!

I do believe that Tom was blindsided with this. Normally HE would be the one who made such a huge move. But yeah, he would use that sympathy card as much as possible!!

I disagree. If there really was a 5 year contract, then the termination arrangement would have been spelled out from the start. I’m guessing it would’ve gone something like: On the specified date, Katie will file for divorce so that Tom can look like the “blindsided” injured party.

He couldn’t be the one to do it, otherwise people would question (for the billionth time) the sincerity of his couch-jumping antics.

Also, I bet he will put on a good show of fighting for custody (aka fighting for public sympathy), and then let her keep Suri, whom he doesn’t want anyway because she isn’t his.

@Erandyn – taking your thought to it’s logical conclusion, then all these ‘she’s looking depressed and unkempt’ photos may have also been part of the contract. We know her being papped so frequently in the last year was to set up her visual residency in NYC. So, it doesn’t take a great leap to say that could have been her greatest acting job to make TC look good in the event of the 5yr end to contract.

His reputation really couldn’t take another divorce where he is the instigator.

There are reports already in other papers about how he is a broken man over this and especially because he was ‘blind sided’

I don’t know how much I believe about the Tom Cruise craziness, but at the very least, if a couple can’t agree on their child’s religious upbringing, that could drive a major wedge in the marriage. And we all know that Scientology, again, at the very least, can be very demanding. Katie seems like a normal, midwestern type of girl and she’s probably realizing she’s not down with Scientology in all of its forms, especially for her own daughter’s upbringing.

It is a shame–selfishly, I always thought Tom and Katie were at least a very attractive couple, and I would have liked to keep seeing them together. And they made a beautiful baby! (I just can’t believe all of the paternity rumors.)

In Ca if a child is born in a marriage the kids father is the man the woman is married to. So if TC is not bio father of Suri it has to be proven in court and then he may or may not have to support the kid. I know this because my late brother always told me that his son was not his. He was made sterile while fighting in Korea. He loved that boy and he swore me to secrecy. THEN the princess he was married to decided 14 years later that the boys “real father ” ws the love of her life and she left my brother. SHe did not know that my brother always knew that this boy was not his and thought she had shocked him with the news. When they went to court, since my brothers name was on the birth certificate, and he had raised this kid as his own knowing all along that she cheated, and her passing this kid off as his and the boys tears begging the judge not to take his dad away, he got full custody.Even if this child is not tc’s bio kid , it is still his child legally . I believe it is his kid because she lookhs just like him. He may lose because of the COS being involved. I think that Katie really loved TC and she is not a gold digger, There is a pre nup and she wont get anything more than that but child support. I think she grew up in the last 5 yeats and her parents have talked to her too and she is now understanding that Travolta did not portect his son from that cult and that his son may still be alive if not for that COS bullsh-t. Katie needs to protect her kid from COS and she sees what TC

In Ca if a child is born in a marriage the kids father is the man the woman is married to. So if TC is not bio father of Suri it has to be proven in court and then he may or may not have to support the kid. I know this because my late brother always told me that his son was not his. He was made sterile while fighting in Korea. He loved that boy and he swore me to secrecy. THEN the princess he was married to decided 14 years later that the boys “real father ” ws the love of her life and she left my brother. SHe did not know that my brother always knew that this boy was not his and thought she had shocked him with the news. When they went to court, since my brothers name was on the birth certificate, and he had raised this kid as his own knowing all along that she cheated, and her passing this kid off as his and the boys tears begging the judge not to take his dad away, he got full custody.Even if this child is not tc’s bio kid , it is still his child legally . I believe it is his kid because she lookhs just like him. He may lose because of the COS being involved. I think that Katie really loved TC and she is not a gold digger, There is a pre nup and she wont get anything more than that but child support. I think she grew up in the last 5 yeats and her parents have talked to her too and she is now understanding that Travolta did not portect his son from that cult and that his son may still be alive if not for that COS bullsh-t. Katie needs to protect her kid from COS and she sees what TC

I think she already has. It may take a week or two to show on her face or longer due to the stress of thinking about what he can pull to get Suri – but her spirit is definitely back, big time. GO KATIE!

I just can’t wait to see Nicole Kidman dressed in dark belted trench, with scarf around head and neck, with dark sunglasses a la some old black and white movie goddess, glide into a courtroom and simultaneously slay Tom Cruise, Scientology and win back the love of her children who were so cruelly ripped away from her and nursed at the poisoned teat of David Miscav*.

Now that would be an opportunity for Nicole to shine. Most satisfying script to ever land in her lap. Revenge and redemption – the best storyline ever. And all for a good cause.

The woman who moved in and took over her kids and had Nicole’s tween/teenagers calling her mom? Right, Nicole is really going to help her.

Nicole seems to be in a good place with Tom. Last year in an interview talking about her great love for Keith at 40, she said nice things about her time with Tom. He is her children’s father. She isn’t going to bash Tom for his newest wife.

All it takes is one subpoena and Nicole has to talk to Katie’s lawyers. It doesn’t matter what terms she is on with Tom and it doesn’t matter what any confidentiality agreement says. She will have to give up any information regarding her divorce to Tom. My best guess is that the Tom and Nicole paper trail has already been unearthed or will be very soon.

I’m torn on that subject. After Kidman did a prominent article in which she says it hurts her that her kids call her Nicole instead of mom, Katie did a complete bitch move raving how much the kids love HER and they call HER mom.

What a knife to the heart and deliberately cruel. If she does help Katie, Bella and Connor may very well turn their backs on Nicole for good – in that case I don’t think Katie would be worth it.

There’s a reason Nicole has never bad mouthed CO$ since the divorce and I believe it’s fear of further alienation from her children.

I wonder if boys are more important in the cult? I remember a creepy photo of – (I think Miscavige) and Tom sitting on a scientology throne with Connor at his side – no Isabella. Like he’d just been crowned King of Scientology. Very cult-like. I’m amazed it was released. I think it was probably snuck out and released.

Yeah, that was a bitch move for sure. I don’t know. I didn’t like Katie Holmes during her marriage with Tom Cruise and Scientology , she definitely gains respect back now. Let’s hope her talking against Nicole was the influence of Scientology. Time will show what kind of human being she is.

Exactly. I don’t really care if she was a gold-digger in the beginning — and I don’t think buying into the Hollywood fantasy necessarily makes one a gold-digger in the classic lazy, no morals sense of the term — She had a kid and grew up. Now she’s trying to do what’s best for her kid. I respect that (regardless of what her performance did to the otherwise excellent Batman Begins).

I don’t know why it took her so long to realize this, but better late than never. Good luck to her, she’s probably going to need it going up against him and his crazy cult.
I wonder if this has been a gradual thing, or if something happened that made her say enough’s enough.

This custody fight could get very ugly for the COS. I’m betting the next wife is non-famous and already a COS member. Has anyone seen the age 33/34 thing? All 3 wives have been 33 when they filed for divorce from Tom.

Taylor’s too outspoken/chatty if you ask me. She’d – A. Never keep her mouth shut and would probably write a song about it. Co$ wouldn’t like that. Would be funny to listen to though. (to the tune of you belong with me) *you stole my brai-hey-ain……. Oh, you stole my brain*
B. I don’t think she’s silly and naive enough to be sucked into the Sci-craze crap. She might do a couple of dates and photo ops for publicity, but I don’t think she’d go all the way a la Katie.

@LeeLoo: Taylor LAUTNER has the same asexual vibe as Tom Cruise. He is totally Tom Cruise Jr. As for Taylor SWIFT, she is hardly asexual… no way would John Mayer have hit that if she were even the least bit asexual…

Let’s be clear here. Asexuality does not mean you DON’T have sex, it just means you are not interested in sex and tend to avoid sexual situations. There are many people of asexual orientation who have sex. I’ve always found Taylor Swift’s innocent portrayal of love and romance to suggest she could possibly be asexual. Or quite possibly, she had some bad sexual experiences (with John Mayer) and decided to abstain. Asexuality means different things to different people. You can’t pigeon hole one example and say it is good for every single one.

Since Katie’s dad is a divorce attorney I would have expected he’d have looked into that issue already.

I’m not sure how it is in the US, but in Canada there is a difference between physical custody and legal custody. Physial custody refers to which parent the child resides, and legal custody involves the decisions that are make regarding how the child is raised – ie. religion, education, etc.

My understanding is that Katie wants sole physical custody, but is fine with joint custody. In other words, she wants Suri to reside mostly with her, but is fine with Tom having reasonable visitation, and is also okay with Tom having a say in how Suri is raised. I’m summing that Katie willl be adament that scientology not play a part in Suri’s life.

Today, all the articles on Radar indicate Katie wants sole physical and legal custody. I’m not sure what article I read yesterday that said she was okay with joint legal custody. Sole joint custody makes much more sense in this particular situation considering Tom’s close ties with the cult.

Interesting update, and not surprising! I knew Tom would quickly try to gain control — he and the CO$ are not going to let Katie have the upper hand. I do think he’s got more of a battle ahead of him with Katie and her attorney father than he might have expected.

And what I really wonder is what the CO$ is going to do — they do not let people get away easily and in a high profile situation like this, they will do everything in their power to put the screws to Katie.

It will be really interesting to see where this will play out — NY or CA. Katie has been spending a lot of time in NY for many months now — I wonder if it’s long enough to claim residency?

I landed in the wrong “reply” spot; in any case, I think Katie’s dad is savvy enough-and motivated enough-to cover all bases. Also, aren’t the records public in Cali and not in NY? I can’t imagine Tom’s team didn’t consider that-better a messy divorce kept under wraps than all over the place, unless the Co$ team is completely nuts..

Katie filed divorce docs in NYC, in large part because she wants sole legal custody of Suri and New York courts are way more likely to grant Katie sole legal custody and control over child-rearing decisions than California courts.

But here’s the problem … sources connected with the couple tell us … Tom has been trying to do everything legally within his power to avoid strong ties to New York City because the tax rates are ridiculously high … and he does not want any appearance that he or Katie have been living there.

But here’s the thing … TMZ has obtained documents which show Tom deeded their NYC apartment to Katie last August and our sources say it was done specifically for tax purposes. Point of fact … the deed lists a transfer to a trust, but TMZ has confirmed it’s a trust established for the benefit of Katie.

Sources say Katie is using the apartment to establish residency in New York for the purpose of the divorce — something we’re told can screw Tom tax-wise.’

I wouldn’t put it past TC to try to avoid higher taxes (more $$$$$ for the CO$, you know) by doing this.

Another source I read claimed the apartment was an “investment opportunity” (or some such) and was being rented out, until Katie decided she wanted to stay there. (Don’t know how true any of this is, as now there are reports that Katie “secretly” rented a new apartment. Whatevs.)

“There’s almost NO WAY to obtain “sole” legal AND physical custody in Cali”

Maybe that’s another reason she’s wanting to do all of this in NY? When my parents were in the custody battle over me (about 22 years ago) my father wanted sole legal and physical custody and he got it. This was in NY. My father proved my mother was unfit and the judge gave him everything he wanted.

I really hope it turns out the same way for Katie. Keep Suri away from TC and that wacko “church”!

My money is on Paula Patton as the next gf, that girl reeks of desperation. She wants to be the next thing so badly, and she excells at super-duper-happy-awesome-smiley-embarassing-threatrical public appearances, just like Tom

She knew Tom was into Scientology before she even met him, got pregnant, and married him…so I’m not sure his “religion” has a lot to do with the divorce. Unless she thought she could “change” him. Either way, it must be something big, because I’m guessing they didn’t try “legal separation” first, just went straight to filing for divorce. He needs to be with a woman his own age and someone who is already a member of the COS…that would make sense. I don’t know if she’ll be able to get full custody…unless she has damaging evidence against Tom. Mostly if both parents are of sane mind, custody is shared.

knowing he was in CO$ and being aware of exactly what CO$ is are two different things. There are an awful lot of people who, until TC went overtly bat-crap crazy had know idea how sinister that organization is

If I can google Lisa McPherson, Scientology Kills, and Ex-Scientology Kids – so could Katie. There are hours of testimony from former higher ups on Youtube. There is a secret group called Anonymous who have to wear masks to prevent CO$ from targeting them. If she didn’t know what CO$ was all about, she chose not to know. She really thought it was normal that she was assigned a high up Scientology chaperone from their first date? And that this chaperone accompanied her in all things and guarded every word she said and coached her in interviews as to what she should say. The publicity from their courtship drew more innocent people into this cult.

Celebrities use the Sea Org – as unpaid labor. They (celebrities) cannot possibly be blind to this. Google Sea Org and see what those people are put through.

I believe Katie was deliberately blind. She is mostly a victim, but in my mind she had a small amount of complicity. I think she has a responsibility to now blow this cult out of the water. I’m sure she has heard a lot considering Tom is best friends with David Miscavige. If she did this, in my mind it would make up for any part she had in giving a false image to this “religion”.

I do wish Katie and Suri the best and I treasure the moment TC got the news. I just can’t help wondering why she didn’t google Scientology even once before marrying this guy. If you were asked to convert to a religion you knew very little of and to vow to raise your child in, would you spend 5 minutes getting impartial info on the internet? That’s all it would have taken – 5 minutes.

@mayamae – you know to google those things; she, like most people, likely did not

unfortunately, up until fairly recently, when high profile members left and went public, most people thought CO$ was just some kookey Hollywood pseudo-religion. I’d bet most people still have no idea how completely warped this cult is

I hear what you’re saying but still disagree a bit. I’m just a nobody who lived most of her life in farm-town Illinois. I’ve known about this stuff since before the couch-jumping incident.

It’s been reported that her parents strongly disagreed with their marriage. I cannot believe for an instant that her father – who had such a vested interest – did not spend 5 minutes googling him. I think the very reason her parents did not want her to marry him was because of CO$. That leads me to believe that her parents would have told her about the cult. I think she did know and chose to marry him anyway. That’s why I think she holds a very small amount of responsibility. But I’m certainly Team Katie.

If you are changing a religion, whatever that religion is, surely you would find out as much about it before committing.

Even if the big reveal is after the commitment, there was enough information in 2005 for her to find out about Scientology.

Plus, he apparently sent her on a co$ intense course soon after meeting her, so she would have known some of what she was getting herself into.

It’s like Jehovah’s witnesses coming to your door. Most of us know not to let them in. You don’t have to be deeply involved with Jehovah’s witnesses religion to make that decision. ditto any other religion.

I will give her a small benefit of doubt on the Tom Cruise personality front because everyone who talks about his pre-co$ life says he has an intense, earnest personality who was always super aware and calculating in terms of how he conducted his life as it partained to his life goals and ambitions. That kind of person is really exhausting. Kidman is possibly the only person who could stand it because she is just as intense with regards her career.

ps:- regarding her parents objections, perhaps it took them 5yrs to persuade her, and once she was on board, helped her plan and execute her escape.

We don’t know that they didn’t quietly separate some time ago. It would make total sense. In the beginning, Katie was always with Tom while he was filming on location, but once filming of the Rock of Ages wrapped up, Katie and Suri have spent most of their time in New York leaving Tom to go off to various film locations by himself.

I hope that at the very least, this will rain down negative publicity on that hideous cult. I always knew she was smarter than what she let on, and if indeed she’s doing this to “rescue” Suri from C0$, good for her. I think her family may have had something to do with it. Her dad is a divorce lawyer, yay And I think his career may suffer, who knows. But The Karma Wagon must be on the go, because he blind-sided Nicole Kidman, didn’t he? I think he’s a egotastic freak – to the max.

If katie had any self-respect or sensitivity to the needs of her child, she wouldn’t have married Tom when she was pregnant. She would have put the needs of the child first. She knew about Tom and Scientology before, during and after Suri. Suri’s 5 years old. The seeds of damage have already been sewn. A bit too late now to take Suri away from it. She should have done so 5 years ago, prevented it in the first place.

Easier said than done. It took 30 years for Paul Haggis- an intelligent and headstrong person who doesn’t let himself be pushed around- to finally break free from CoS. I’m glad Katie got out, period. A good many aren’t as lucky. We also don’t know how much Katie knew about the cult.

This. The more you learn about the Co$, the sorrier you’ll feel for the victims of it. Even Tom Cruise was a victim in the beginning, though now he seems to run the thing along with his bestest sociopathic buddy David Miscavige.

Scientology screws with your mind until you can’t even think normally any longer. It replaces the normal language in your head with L. Ron Hubbardese, so instead of thinking “that person has a cold,” you think “that person pulled it in and has an overt.” It’s easy to get sucked in if you don’t know any better — and remember, when Katie married Tom, Scientology was in a much better position than it is today. The horrible stuff the cult does wasn’t yet common knowledge.

Katie Holmes didn’t only deal with the normal love-bombing of the cult, she was being loved-bombed by TOM CRUISE. Whatever else he is, he’s a handsome man with an incredible amount of charisma, and a good actor. Katie’s two years younger than me, and I totally understand her crush on him. (He was never my type, but almost every girl I knew did have a thing for him. I thought he looked like a Ken doll.)

Anyone who escapes Scientology deserves praise. It takes courage and wisdom. Katie’s got a lot of psychological and practical support, and she’ll need all of it, especially to protect her daughter.

Don’t underestimate the power of emotional manipulation, especially when a woman is pregnant. TC clearly had the power in the relationship and it would not have been hard to make her feel she had no other choice. It’s the classic emotionally abusive relationship. Unfortunately for her, Scientology was also involved giving TC even more power. And when they married, it wasn’t as clear as it is now just how bad the COS is. This was before the high profile defectors. Rumors could easily have been explained away.

Katie was young, pregnant, and Catholic. She probably genuinely liked Tom at the beginning, too. And he was a big movie star. It probably all seemed like a fairy tale — and she probably got pressure from all sides to go through with it. I’m going to cut her a break. Besides, it seems like she started planning to get out as soon as she realized that life would be a nightmare for herself and her daughter. Even if she was goldigging or fame-chasing, NOBODY deserves to be a prisoner in their own lives or watch their child be abused.

Ummm, Suri was born BEFORE the wedding ceremony (see above pic w/Suri in Katie’s arms on the wedding day).

However, I cannot say with certainty that she was born prior to the “secret ceremony” in LA.

Additionally, take into consideration that Katie got pregnant within 2 months of dating, she’s Catholic, and (I’m certain) was overwhelmed and fan-girling out the wazoo over all this lavish attention being showered upon her by *gasp* TOM CRUISE!

I didn’t realize how big this news is. I made fun of Depp and Travolta being happy with the shift in focus on them, but this IS bigger than Depp and Travolta. Most news posts are drawing more than 1000+ comments. Cruise and his crazy is big! Plus there are too many conspiracy theories – fake marriage contract, paternity rumors, TC’s sexual orientation, Xenu…aahh!

Sometimes I cannot come to terms with Cruise’s crazy, especially when I watch Top Gun, Risky Business, Cocktail, A Few Good Men, Jerry Maguire, Magnolia etc. Speaking of which, think Cruise has shades of his character from Magnolia.

Oh, I know what you mean. I watched Jerry Maguire and Top Gun recently. I was thinking “Really? Really? How can someone act that lovely and actually be a total nut?”
Aaa and then I think of my ex-boyfriend.

By all accounts, Tom Cruise is a lovely human being, polite and very nice. However, there is the pesky matter of his ties to CO$. Even the nicest, most intelligent person can be duped by a cult. Tom has been in this cult (because that’s what it is) for years. It would take a tremendous effort to deprogram him, not to mention that he will never leave because they treat him like a God. I’ve never thought Tom is gay (I believe he is asexual) and that makes his ties to CO$ both voluntary (he isn’t being coerced like Travolta who stays in there as long as they hide his not-so-secret) and fanatical (he truly believes in it). The odds of his ever leaving are slim-to-none.

@Amelia – Exactly! I’d love to read a book on how Cruise got into this crazy, believed the crazy and became crazy. Didn’t Mimi Rogers introduce him to CO$? I’m waiting for PTA’s The Master to shed some light on CO$ brainwashing.

@ Az: There are plenty of reports out there that Tom is not the nice guy he portrays himself to be. Even former costars including Brad Pitt, and Rob Lowe have stated otherwise. Look at the way he treated both of his ex-wives Mimi and Nicole, Scientology can’t be blamed for everything.

I agree with you, Az. I’ve also heard many times that Cruise is a very polite, nice man. He’s very driven and focused, and that he has a very strong work ethic. But yeah, like you said, he’s sucked into CO$ and has been completely brainwashed. I saw the 2008 video where he talks about C0$. It’s freaky! This man truly believes in the cult. You’re right, he’s not in it for covering up his sexuality like Travolta. I’ve also never thought Cruise is gay. He’s asexual and I think it has to do with CO$.

I don’t know if CO$ will be a strong ground for Katie to gain sole legal custody of Suri. It’s not like Tom is abusive towards the child. He loves his child/ren and he believes that they need to have a CO$ upbringing. That’s just a difference of opinion on their child’s religious upbringing. Unless Katie can produce damning evidence against CO$ and how harmful it can be to the child, I don’t think she can win sole legal custody by merely stating that she does not agree with Tom’s religious beliefs.

I actually am feeling very happy for Katie. She has finally reacted and is trying to do the best for her and her child. She was naive when she got involved with TC, she was in love and foolish. Those are “sins” I can easily forgive, I’ve been there myself. When in love, we are somehow “demented”, we don’t see or don’t want to see the red flags, until we learn our lesson and do some growing up.
Now, what she intends to do is huge, running away from TC and the COS really sounds threatening. I respect her and admire her courage. I wish her all the best.

ITA. I was in a relationship for 2 years… head over heals,could do no wrong… even when he beat the hell out of me (stupid I know ).I alienated myself from friends and family for this lovely person. The sad part, I left because he kicked my kitten. I thought I’m a big girl I can fight back but if he’s mean to defenseless baby kitten what would he do to a child. Love is blind, deaf and can be stupid! I wish Katie all the best cuz it’s going to be hell!

Am I the only one who feels a bit bad for Tom? Not with what happened with KH but the whole Scientology thing. The guy’s clearly been brainwashed, and it’s evident they targeted him to be a PR person for them and have been giving him rockstar treatment to make sure their investment keeps pimping their cult. He’s an intense dude, he was studying to be a Franciscan monk at one point and desperately needs a cause he thinks is pure and holy to take up, and CoS is totally taking advantage of it.

I dunno, I just don’t hate him as much as others do. He’s always super nice and gracious to his fans and was robbed of an oscar for not winning for Magnolia. I hope his eyes open at some point or other and he’ll be able to escape CoS.

No, I feel bad for Katie as well and am glad she’s escaped. I just hope Tom will soon too.

Also, while organized religion is teh suck in no way would I compare it to CoS. It’s not the original tenets of religion that is reprehensible but how people of power have twisted religion for their own gain. Where CoS is vile through and through, down to its basic premise. Tithing also is optional and can’t be compared to the exorbitant fees people pay for auditing.

I agree with you, blah. I think Katie is smart to leave, but I agree with all you just said about Tom. I don’t think he’s a bad guy at all, in fact I think he is probably a very nice and generous person. But yes, he is intense, earnest, and needs to believe in something. He is one of those people always striving to be “better”. His methods are questionable, and his “church” is questionable, but I don’t hate him either.

@ ‘I believe he is probably a very nice and generous person’.
Then you must have missed his Matt Lauer interview.
He was behaving like a typical men with a Napoleon complex – I’m tiny physically but I’m a lion inside, hear me roar! Laughable!
He is an uneducated high school dropout (yeah, he ‘enrolled’ at a Franciscan monastery, says HE, but it was at age 14, and he quickly quit). He is dumb, not intelligent, secretly hateful of those he perceives as smarter, brighter. He can be very malicious with his words, when pushed, and the the whole benevolent persona crumbles, and the disdain and condescension come to the forefront. Just recall the way he talked about Brook Shields, a mother who had just given birth, who was dealing with paralizing post-partum depression. His attack on her was viscious! And once that facade was in ruins, the whole aggresion bottled up in him exploded. His face, when he called Lauer ‘glib’ and ‘uneducated about psychology and psychiatry’, was full of hate. Then he decried himself as having ‘studied it and its history’, when all he’d ever done was read or listen to some CO$ endoctrination tapes.
He considers himself ‘enlightened’ simply because he paid enough to CO$ for them to allow him into the inner, highest circle, and bought into their idiotic claims that the ‘knowledge they give you’ makes you better that everybody else on Earth, even than the rest of Sci-CO$ psychoes, since they did not receive the enlightenment as they did not pay for it.
He was hateful, spiteful, aggressive, and once the fake ‘public persona’ evaporated, he was exposed as a tiny person with a huge chip on his shoulder, who looks down on everybody else because he bought into the myth of his own extraordinariness.

@Blah – I agree with every word you said about Tom. He’s an intense guy and it’s pretty obvious. I think even the infamous couch jumping incident was something very special and emotional to him. He reacts intensely and I can relate to it on some level, because my sister is like that. Her reactions to happy moments are over-the-top and she gets deeply emotional when she’s sad. The CO$ is definitely taking advantage of him. I want him to escape from the clutches of CO$ just like I want Katie and Suri to.

Tom Cruise used Co$ slave labor to refit his motorcycle. His best friend is David Miscavige, the vile leader of the cult of Scientology. On national television, he told a woman who suffered postpartum depression that she was bad for taking the necessary drugs to care for her mental health. He claimed to know that psychiatry was totally evil during an interview — that’s a main point of Scientology, they like to say that mental health professionals are responsible for literally every bad thing that has happened in the world ever. He’s a homophobic jerk. I have zero shits to give about Tom Cruise.

If he denounces the cult, then I will change my mind. But he’s not going to. He and Miscavige are soulmates. I feel sorry for every other person trapped in Scientology (though not John Travolta so much any more), but not Cruise.

I didn’t read your post before I wrote mine. We’re on the same wavelength.

I just wanted to add to your thoughts. Don’t forget that CO$ is “cutting edge” on drug addiction. Why Tom Cruise himself has cured many drug addicts with the power of himself – he brags about it.
And remember, Tom is so high up now he “self heals”. Yep – that’s what he says.

If anyone has the time and inclination, google Lisa McPherson. She was a woman who was kept from psychiatric care by CO$ and ended up dying in their care. You can google the autopsy photos to see the condition she was in when she was allowed to starve and be profoundly dehydrated. Her family released the photos because they want people to know what CO$ did to their daughter.

I sympathize with Tom Cruise as much as I did with Kathie Lee Gifford when it was revealed that child labor was used on her clothing line.

Tom Cruise IS Scientology by his choice and David Miscavige’s choice, he is the public face of the religion. It is HIS responsibility to know what he is representing. When all the free Sea Org members worked on his homes and grounds he knew he was not paying for it. Google Sea Org and read what their lives are like. He is one of the richest men in show business receiving free labor from his church. By the way, scientology kids are used as child labor. Google Ex-Scientology Kids and see what their lives are like.

He has helped build this cult up to a great power and he must take responsibility for his part in it. He passed the level years ago where it is revealed about the space aliens and Xenu. Many celebrities have not reached that level and maybe can be forgiven for their arrogance. Not Tom.

He has stood back and watched The Church go after people who outed the cult. He must know about the bugging of phones, intimidation, following of dark tinted windows, litigation until their opponent is bankrupt. He would sick them on people – he definitely knows.

I totally agree it’s what’s on her mind. But technically, to what extent she can actually use it in this divorce case is doubtful. Because then it gets into civil rights issues and that’s for another courtroom. They’re going to keep it down to Tom’s behavior to Katie, not his “religion”. If they even allowed it, they’d be in court for two years just discussing all this Co$ $hit. They have to stick to family law here.

A rose: No, are you serious??? If he filed first, everybody would still be overjoyed to see her leave Rumplestiltzkin. They want his head on a pike anyway just because he’s a freakish controlling brainwashed a$$hole.

I’ve wondered if she’s been living in NY for so long because Tom’s scientology family lives in their California house and spies on her activities. To a lesser extent – it’s sad to say – but Bella and Connor probably also spy and report back. Those two seem to be true believers.

My first instinct was (of course) the Scientology angle, but isn’t 5, the magic number? We’ve seen a lot of stars stay married to 5 years because it means more moolah for the petitioner to ‘hit the notch.’

I’m beginning to feel a little compassion for Tom here, and as I think back, he’s the one that seemed ‘dotty’ for katy, and she seemed more aloof in response. If you ask me, the potential is there that Tom was set-up from the get-go. Marry Cruise, have a baby, hit five years, ‘set for life.’

As for him ‘being a Scientologist,’ a cult is a cult and I don’t recall them having as ‘nasty reputation,’ as the ‘Church,’ has, ie, child molestation by the Vatican’s cover-ups.

Trust, Scientology has a nasty reputation and has done horrible things. Maybe not as awful as molestation cover ups but awful all the same. This video is on the sensationalist side but breaks down all the crapola things that Scientology has done over the years.

I’ve studied all this in the past. I am neutral on cults, so I know all about the I.R.S. and even the C.I.A., confisciating Hubbard’s work on Remote Viewing. I don’t hate Catholics because they are Catholics though, nor Scientologists because they are Scientologists. I just think they are ‘naive,’ as to the true nature ‘of’ their cult. I am watching your video, please try this one.

As a former catholic myself, I’ve left the Church because I’m an atheist and I hate the Vatican and his politics,I can say the big difference is: if you leave the Church no one threatens you or your family, you’re not in danger.

Seems as I think about it, the ‘Media’ (who would never sell us propaganda, would it?)has been bad mouthing Tom since he spoke out again the huge conglomeration of the Pharmaceutical (son’t mind the side-effects)Companies.

Sumner Redstone fired him and every media corporation started telling us that ‘Tom was over, his career is dashed, etc. etc., after that.

People are soooo easily swayed by the media. Only I guess people ‘still liked Tom.’ They went on watching his movies. I’m not that big a fan, I’ve liked some of his work, some of it I haven’t, but I don’t like seeing somebody black-listed, because they have a right to speak out, and personally I wouldn’t take any new ‘miracle drug,’ preferring something that’s been around for 20 years or so so I can see what ‘horrid after-effects’ it might have.

But maybe, just maybe, Tom ‘is’ being gunned for, maybe Travolta too. Not because either has ‘done anything wrong,’ but because the bosses, the Sumner Redstones, the Rupert Murdocks, have been ‘ordering’ them to.

Every single one of Rose’s talking points is very familiar to anyone who’s seen many of Scientology’s attempts at damage control on the internet. So is her writing style. I’m not saying Rose is a Scientologist, or working for Scientology. Just that this similarity is rather… interesting.

Five years was very likely the duration of her marriage contract. Iron-clad, inescapable and enforceable.
So yeah, five years is also the amount of time for wives to get bigger pay-outs, but in Cruise’s case it was a number that made sense as it gave him the appearance of being in a stable and lasting relationship. Not only that, but ALL his wives were under contract UNTIL they reached age 33. Their contracts and marriages always ended when the women hit 33. Which is also (fun fact) the age at which Jesus Christ supposedly died, reversed to marriage (that for Catholics should be for life) and women (made symbols of sacrifice as Jesus). And there is one of the ties to Satanism that runs deep through the Co$. And yes, there have been horrible and multiple cases of abuse, both sexual and non, involving the Co$, their teachings and their behaviour towards children.

The Co$ is EVIL. Tom is an unredeemable nut-case. Katie did well understanding it and trying to figure out the best way to escape.

He seemed “dotty for Katie” because he was playing a part. Tom’s entire life, at this point, is a role. It’s so strange to reconcile Tom Cruise at the beginning of his career to Tom Cruise as he is today.

As for Catholic vs. CO$, they’ve both done terrible things, but if you think CO$ doesn’t have a nasty reputation, I’m going to have to ask you to educate yourself a little.

I am more educated about Scientology than the average bear. I make it a point to study things like Scientology and have evened out the pro’s and con’s. I’d never join a cult, and that includes the Catholic Church, which if you study the murders within it, it’s ‘selling dispensation,’ to ‘get into heaven,’ the Spanish Inquisition, the claims of communism having been indoctrinated into it after WW2, not allowing equality for women in it, it ain’t got ‘nothing on Scientology.’ Tom may be brainwashed, but he was crazy in love, with katy. He may have enjoyed the publicity, but mostly he had to face more wrath than positive publicity by marrying katy.

@Rose – You make very interesting points. As a person who is neutral to all cult/ideology/religions, I see what you are saying. I think we maybe blowing up on CO$ like it’s worse than any other cult/ideology/religions. They all have their pro’s and con’s and Cruise is as much a victim as anyone else who gets sucked deeply into any cult/ideology/religion.

Sure you can compare the two. You can also compare apples and gorillas, but it’s not gonna get you anywhere, and anyone with any sense is going to realize exactly what you’re up to. And anyone who’s watched the cult’s antics for a while is going to have heard it all before, over and over and over, along with the “evil Pharmaceutical Companies”, “all religions are exactly the same”, and other derailing talking points for the Co$.

But I do feel sympathy for those derailers who work for Scientology in the Sea Org. They’re as much victims as anyone else in the cult — more so, actually, because they’re treated much worse than the rest. One interesting thing to note: these Sea Org members whose job it is to interact with the public on the internet to defend Scientology with straw men and derailing have a very high burnout and defection rate. People can only rub against the truth for so long before it breaks through Hubbard’s wall.

Umm, not for nothing, but the COS has nothing on the Catholic Religion. Just look the thousands of years of murders, corruption, cover up after cover of child molesting priets around the WORLD. A lot of people are all “yay for Katie she’s escaping” and then turn around and make their donations/tithes at mass.

Thank you Jamie for defending this outrageous and offensive claim against Catholicism by @Rose. As a devoted but secular seeming Catholic I am simply astounded at how totally OK it is in our culture to basically indulge in as much hate speech as people want against the Catholic Church and no, no one, bats an eye over it. However, if one were to say the very same things against jews or muslims one would have nothing less than a calvory out for your head and the full weight of the law on you for hate speech offences which include jail time. I am simply amazed and astounded at how “in vouge” it is to bash the church. And now this fresh insult. I come on here to enjoy a little light heartedness and see my beloved church being compared to a cult that is so detestable and an affront to human decency. I am truly disgusted. And, for the record “Rose”, every single religion is guilty of bad things. No one religion is impervious to human mistakes. It is my belife though that the religion I love has done a lot of good for the world through charities and schools and many other things too numerous to list.
I feel sad for you that you obviously have an axe to grind. And, Im sad that this website allows such hate speech and allows someone with a very obvious agenda to control the conversation away from the real topic.

You suggest I might be a scientologist because you say I ‘write’ like a scientologist. I ask you, do scientologists ‘write that scientology is a cult,’ because I ‘have’ over and over again. I am an independent, don’t believe in ‘following the herd,’ thinker. I also don’t let the media make up my mind, when they are ‘obviously’ directing us to ‘hate on TC, consistently, besmerching him for ‘his horrid treatment of katie,’ without a single word of evidence to prove that he has in anyway, harmed her, except the media, ‘seeding it in our heads.’

@ Rose,
Wow, you’ve started getting a little ‘comma’ and ‘quote marks’ crazy, did you notice?
When trying to make a point, it helps to have a persistent, clear and concise train of thought, instead of jumping from one pre-packaged Sci-CO$ approved soundbite to another. Trying to glue them together in a sensible statement ends up instead as an incoherent mess with zero intellectual value.
It is clear that you are trying to disguise being a Sci-CO$ mouth piece by pretending to have a true and personal point of view on, as you say, ‘all cults and religions’. You can try all you want, your limited CO$-issued and approved knowledge of the real world religions is clearly so warped that nobody will ever convince you otherwise. True sign of Sci-CO$ psychos.
Leave the Catholic Church, and any other, alone. I chose to walk away from my church, for reasons of my own, and nobody ever tried to endoctrinate me with deranged fantasies of a sucky, failed Sci-Fi writer wanna-be. Nobody forced me to work for free for the church hierarchy, nobody told me I have to buy the knowledge of religion I was part of, nobody tried to distance me from my loved ones, nobody took away my kids, nobody had me followed, spied on or declared an SP.
I walked away from my church, and am now AS FREE as I was while practicing my religion. Contrast this to all the people who had an awakening and left your Sci-CO$ psychos convention, who feared for their lives, who had their lives ruined.
IF you still do not see the difference, here it is in a nutshell – any bad done by my church was done by the PEOPLE in its hierarchy, in disregard of actual teachings of the religion. CO$’s crimes are not committed by the members on purely human-evil level, they are demanded, mandated and sanctioned by that ‘religion’s’ tenets.

It is ‘not’ my intention, to attack the Catholic Church, but to ‘counter,’ that one who lives in glass churches shouldn’t throw stones. It’s all well and ‘good’ to ‘gang up on Scientology,’ but not the ‘Church.’ As long as everyone is attacking Scientology, everybody’s happy, but serve it ‘back’ and it suddenly is offensive.

I am ‘neither’ a follower of organised religions, be they the Church ‘or’ Scientology. I find them ‘both cults,’ but I ‘do’ support the ‘right’ to belong to ‘any cult,’ that a person ‘wishes’ to be a part of. Just not ‘my cup of tea.’

And as to the ‘abusive’ way TC has treated katy…name me one legitimate ‘source’ citing any ONE abuse, ever, recorded.

Just one.

As a matter of fact, the people that are quoting Tom as ‘abusive,’ just sound like the repetetive words of the media. Nothing explicit, just repetition from media, verbatim and word for word.

Such abuse. Made her one of the richest women in the world. First class all the way. I should be so abused. Homes all over the world.
Wah wah.

While I see you seem to take joy in this bigory and vitriol, as a devout Cathlic I must defend my faith.

By your definition: is the Protestant Church of England a cult because they killed Cathlics 72000–in the reign of Henry VII alone? (Catholic Mary killed 284).

Are Americans part of a cult bcause of the Vietnam war—or slavery, or the treatment of the Native Americans? Or teh Tuskegee project? And did you get to CHOOSE to be an American? No one forces you to be a Catholic. We don’t prostelatize like the Mormons.

Is modern Germany a cult because of the horrific sins of their forefathers—or the radical fringe of neo Nazis? What was done was horrific, inhuman and cruel, and they grieve for that and try to put strictures into place that prevent that from happening again. so to, the Church on earth is filled with men who have committed horrible crimes. We go through periods of reform, as does any group. Not ever German was a Nazi. Some committed amazing acts of bravery–hiding the innocent, sheltering them, working with underground movements. So too, for everyone member of the Inquisition I could show you Catholic people who build hospitals, run AIDS clinics, homeless shelters, orphanages, centers for the dying.

The crimes I’ve listed were horrific—but I could find any or every culture and find a similar horror. The Catholic Church is a long way from the Inquisition and in the modern day we all believe that men who commit evil (no matter what guise it’s under) should face the justic system. Is it fair to put blame on the innocent just because they have a belief system that’s different from your own? There are horrors in every history. So too did America drive forth slavery, Atheistic Communists commit crimes. How many people did Stalin slaughter? How many groups do the Communist Chinese oppress? But do I blame atheists for the sins of another? *I* do not judge every Muslim on the crimes of a few. I have Muslim friends. I have Jewish heritage, as well as Protestant Christian, as well as Native American. I choose to be a Catholic. I do not pay to be a catholic. I do not fear pain of torture if I’m not a catholic. What does that make me in your cult scheme? Or would you continue to hate all Catholics?

When leaders of the Catholic church like Cardinal Dolan are lobbying for time limits for victims to sue their attackers to protect the financial interests of the church, I don’t know how anyone can justify to themselves staying loyal to this institution.

There’s a big difference between subscribing to the teachings of Jesus and defending a corrupt organization. Indeed, WWJD?

Thank you catholic Elenor,
This post is to Gayle.
Sure, yeah, its easy to kick the Catholic church while its down and its not “in Vouge” to be one because of the issues were having with the molestation.
Maybe our faith and love for the church is stronger than yours Gayle. You see it as an opportunity to abandon ship. I see it as why would I leave my Church when she so desperately needs me, and other good people of faith more than ever?? The 1960s ushered in this wave of “priests” with an agenda. That has been made clear over and over again. The church is cleaning house and is finally have the guts to get the issue and the hype and hysteria under control.
As for me it is unfathomable that I would let a few insane priests ruin my enjoyment and comfort from my religion.
My attitude is those of REAL faith will remain steadfast and not turn their backs. Obviously you feel differently and thats your perogative. But to answer your question nothing could ever get me to turn turncoat on the church.

I’d rather marry TC than Alec Baldwin. And anyone whose read my posts on this site knows I am not a TC fan. Never was. I saw his movies but I didn’t like him at all. Too toothy and fake. Still I don’t think he’d beat me up.

I wonder how Katie managed to “secretly” arrange to get an apt rented in NYC? Aside from the media always being on her *ss, where were her Scientology minders? I always figured they had her followed/monitored at all times. Katie, you’re a clever one!

To the posters who pointed out that Tom likes to marry Catholics and convert them, and that his next wife will probably be someone who’s already a Sci, that’s what I can’t figure out. WHY keep getting non-Scientology beards? Why not get Erika Christensen (young, pretty, an actress, and a devoted Sci) instead of going for Catholics whose families are into calling themselves Catholics?

Regarding the converting Catholics, I’m only speculating here, but maybe it has to do with Co$ publicity? Think about it: Catholicism is one of the religions that beats it into your head at a young age that “Leaving the Catholic church = eternity in hell” (born and raised Catholic here). If people see Co$ converting Catholics, that might make people of other faiths, especially Catholicism, go “Hmmm, maybe there IS something good to this Scientology afterall”. The so-called “Catholic Guilt” is a real thing and I’ve experienced it myself and I was only CONSIDERING another religion.

Catholicism is a decision. No one except your pastor (maybe) cares if you choose to be a practising Catholic or not. And there are no threats involving your soul.
Maybe your parents implied that but that’s more of a parenting issue.

Well, my guess a few posts up was that they get a perverse kick out of it.
The Co$ is strongly linked to Satanic practices and has many activities that remind of Catholic rituals (confession, guilt, hierarchical obedience…), but distorted and perverted to the maximum.
So it would make sense, it would show the other Sci that their poster-boy is capable of turning a Catholic, that they can submit a Catholic to Satanic-like rituals.

I keep hoping that Jenna Elfman gets out of this, but I guess she never had the means and the support that Katie had. Poor things, all of them.

By all accounts the Holmes family is very stable, very loving. I think this is the main reason Katie is able to do what she is doing. Her dad is a divorce lawyer and I bet he is guiding her every step of the way.

Cruise was born in Syracuse, New York,[4] the son of Mary Lee (née Pfeiffer), a special education teacher, and Thomas Cruise Mapother III (died 1984),[5] an electrical engineer.[6] Cruise’s surname originates from his great-grandfather, Thomas Cruise O’Mara, who was adopted by a Welsh immigrant and renamed “Thomas Cruise Mapother”.[7][8][9] Cruise is of German, Irish, and English ancestry.[10]

***He grew up in near poverty, in a Catholic family dominated by his abusive father, whom Cruise has described as “a merchant of chaos”.[11] He was beaten by his father, whom Cruise has said was a bully and coward.***

He was the kind of person where, if something goes wrong, they kick you. It was a great lesson in my life—how he’d lull you in, make you feel safe and then, bang! For me, it was like, ‘There’s something wrong with this guy. Don’t trust him. Be careful around him.’[11]
Cruise’s family spent part of his childhood in Canada, and Cruise attended Robert Hopkins Public School in Ottawa, Ontario, for grades three, four, and five. The Mapother family then moved to the suburb of Beacon Hill so Cruise’s father could take a position as a defense consultant with the Canadian Armed Forces.[12] There, Cruise completed grade six at Henry Munro Middle School, part of the Carleton Board of Education,[13] where he was active in athletics, playing floor hockey almost every night, showing himself to be a ruthless player, and eventually chipping his front tooth. In the game British bulldogs, he then lost his newly capped tooth and hurt his knee.[14] Henry Munro was also where Cruise became involved in drama, under the tutelage of George Steinburg.[15] The first play he participated in was called IT, in which Cruise won the co-lead with Michael de Waal, one playing “Evil”, the other playing “Good”. The play met much acclaim, and toured with five other classmates to various schools around the Ottawa area, even being filmed at the local Ottawa TV station.[16] Cruise was bullied regularly in the 15 different schools he attended in 12 years.[11] When Cruise was twelve, his mother left his father, taking Cruise and his sister Lee Anne with her.[11]

***He briefly attended a Franciscan seminary in Cincinnati (on a church scholarship) and aspired to become a Catholic priest.[17]***

In his senior year, he played football for the varsity team as a linebacker, but he was cut from the squad after getting caught drinking beer before a game.[18][19]

WOW! I really admire her guts!! Go Katie!! But I fear for her and Suri…Tom is so rich and connected. I’m going to root for her the same way I did with Nicole. I’m also glad to see that cult going down in flames.

I said this yesterday but I think Katie Holmes’ parents have been instrumental in helping her get out of this marriage. I think her lawyer dad has been spending 5 years digging up enough dirt on Tom and Co$ to help his daughter prepare for this. I do feel Katie was forced to marry Tom after Suri was born because she didn’t want to lose custody of Suri and feared she would have if she married him. So I think it’s been 5 years of getting her ducks in a row and all the ammo she needed to get out.

I also think it is especially telling that she immediately got a secret apartment for the moment the news hit. I think it is even more telling if she had to “blindside” Tom with the papers. I doubt the divorce was of any surprise to him in reality but if there is any truth to him being caught off guard with this then I think it says that Katie was afraid of him and had to work in secret to make it happen. In reality, I think he knew this was happening and hoped she would hold off until the end of his movie promotions.

I don’t think it will get very ugly. I think Co$ is more concerned about making sure Katie keeps her mouth shut, and about major cult members such as L. Ron Hubbard’s daughter, and David Miscaviage’s own father leaving the cult this week. This “church” is imploding. I wouldn’t be surprised if the rumors of a justice department investigation are true.

Absolutely agree with you. The whole thing (secret apartment, wearing her ring in public, etc.) feels like someone who is escaping while she can. Not necessarily Tom but that crazy cult. Read Escape by Carolyn Jessop. Same situation as Katie but with less resources and glamour. And less abuse. Whatever Tom may have done, I don’t believe for a minute that he would be abusive. Now CO$ on the other hand… well, we’ve all read the articles. Miscavige is a beast.

I do think Tom was emotionally abusive and controlling. But I think it has more to do with the influence of Co$ than it does with his own personality. I think there are a lot of people around him controlling his image and stand to lose everything if he winds up with another PR disaster àla 2005. However, I think he knew Katie wanted a divorce and was trying to convince her to hold off until the end of the year and I also think he sincerely wanted to make an attempt at reconciliation. But I am betting he knew earlier this week that this would go down and has tried to spin it that he was “blindsided” by her filing in an attempt to control of the media and gain public sympathy. I got a good feeling Tom is ranting and raving and screaming at his lawyers sand media people as we speak.

The problem is there is no way he can come out of this looking good if he fights her now. What I would tell Tom (and in no way am I endorsing this plan) to let Katie get custody of Suri. Tom can make himself out to be the cool dad who visits between movie sets and has visitations. When Suri turns 10 she starts visiting Dad in CA and Dad spoils her and lets her do whatever she wants and when she turns 13 Dad gets Suri to tell the courts that she would rather live with Dad instead of “boring disciplinarian mom.” It’s exactly what happened to Nicole. Katie may have a head start but all it takes is waiting for Suri to be old enough to tell the courts she would rather live with Dad. Katie may win in the short term but Tom may win the game in the end.

The messed up part is going to be whether or not Katie has “continuously” lived in NYC for the past year. I think she has but I get the feeling this case will hinge on the word “continuously.” For some reason, I have a strong feeling Katie planned the details of this very meticulously and would have either waited or not filed in NY if she wasn’t confident that she could legally do so. I just hope she has a NY driver’s license and has voted in NY. That will end his pleas to move the case to CA very quickly.

I am definitely on Katie’s side in all of this. Part of me, though, feels a little bad for Tom. I do believe he was blindsided by her filing, and he is probably still in shock. I do think he loved and loves her and his family very much. He is just so wrapped up in the CO$, though, and I think that totally affects his judgment and views on everything. And he is a notorious control freak. No matter how much he loves her, I can see why she needed to break free from his control and warped world views. Tom does everything at 150%, by all appearances, and I think he would be exhausting to live with, and I think his love could be stifling. I know there have always been jokes about their marriage being a sham and a contractual obligation, but I’ve never bought that. I think they were crazy about each other at first. His couch jumping never even bothered me all that much. He’s always been an earnest and energetic sort of guy. I also have never bought that he’s secretly gay. I just don’t get gay vibes from him, like the way I do from say, John Travolta. Anyway, I think it’s smart and strong of Katie to try to get Suri away from the church. She is probably in for a long fight. I don’t think that Tom will let go of control so easily.

Well said Shelly. I feel the same way. I wish Tom would wake up already and see how this cult is literally destroying his life. He has lost all of his wives that he loves/loved because of it.
I wonder if Tom will ever publicly denounce his “religion” and lament the mistakes he made because of it and how much he has lost. I believe Katie was his big love and he lost her because of this junk.

I agree with you both. If you read Rob Lowe’s memoir you can see that Tom has always been this way, very earnest, very intense. I do believe he is in too deep with CO$ to ever get out, not like Travolta is (which is based on coercion) but because Tom really buys into the belief system. I think Katie must have done all she could to at least get him to be less fanatical and when her efforts failed, got out before it is too late for Suri. And I don’t blame her… God knows what CO$ was holding over Nicole Kidman for her to leave as quietly as she did. Kidman is very similar to Katie: Catholic, comes from a very supportive, loving family…. I’ve always wondered how CO$ managed to get her to leave quietly and without putting up a fight.

NYCGal-I’m not so sure he actually loves/loved all of his wives! He seems to be intense, i.e. infatuated, early on. However, at some point he’s been positioning himself to move on to “the next one” if it’s examined how he split with Mimi and transitioned without nary a break, on to Nicole. Also the way that he split with Nicole. It seems all too easy for him. It seems to me that Tom is ever looking into a mirror and that mirror is the women/wives whom he sees himself perfectly reflected in, until he doesn’t.

I’ve never gotten a gay vibe from Tom Cruise either. Rather, he seems to me to be a man who gets off on power and adulation, rather than sex. That doesn’t mean he doesn’t have sex — just that I think his sexuality is something very different from anything most people can recognize.

“Nice” is not the same thing as “kind” or “good.” Good people do not knowingly use slave labor, nor do they act as the front for an abusive and dangerous cult, nor are they bestest buddies with people like David Miscavige.

I think this puts an end to the “Tom isn’t really Suri’s father” rumors. Katie seems pretty darn determined to keep Suri away from Tom. All she’d have to do to cut him out of Suri’s life altogether is admit that Suri isn’t Tom’s biological kid. That’s certainly easier than battling him for custody. I feel like if she doesn’t play that card then Tom must really have fathered Suri.

So happy for her and proud of her! This is such a brave, responsible, hard, and wonderful thing to do for her daughter. So thrilled for both of those girls!

That actually proves nothing – quite rightly, a mother cannot unilaterally decide to sever the parental rights of the man who is listed as her child’s father on the birth certificate and who has assumed all the legal & financial responsibilities of being the child’s parent for the child’s entire life just because he isn’t the biological father.

A man who fills the above criteria has rights to the child, whether he’s her biological father or not.

They have an apt in NY I read that is in her name under a trust Tom established for tax purposes. He will have plenty of willing wannabe actresses and B actresses and women in their forties who can’t compete with the young ones in Tinseltown and NY vying for him.

Tom isn’t just brainwashed. They have appealed to the narcississt in him and huge ego by elevating him to practically second in command under that David
guy. Anyone who watched that leaked award ceremony where he received some type of freedom of valor award can see the cringeworthy zealot in him who is a hero to that group.

You couldn’t drag me past one visit and I would be running for the hills. But the allure of Tom sweeping them off their feet seemed to let Katie and Nicole throw their ideals to the wind.
Nicole I understood more. She was only like 21 and he wasn’t as immersed and crazed and so high up. Katie was 28 and there was all kinds of info out
by then and she had a father deluging her with info on the craziness of the organization. She wanted Tom and went in eyes wide open. I would never
allow my child to be brought up in it. But I do think she wanted out a few years ago but waited as long as she could before school-age to end up with a better windfall. The five-year mark in the marriage probably has a significant bump up compared to three or four. I do think Tom married her believing she was all on board and he loved her. He didn’t reckon on her opening up her blind love once the initial bloom wore off the rose and reverted back to some
common sense. I do feel bad for him in that i think he truly loves her, but now he knows how Nicole felt when she was on the floor not wanting the divorce.

“Tom isn’t just brainwashed. They have appealed to the narcississt in him and huge ego by elevating him to practically second in command under that David
guy. Anyone who watched that leaked award ceremony where he received some type of freedom of valor award can see the cringeworthy zealot in him who is a hero to that group.”

Yes! Lainey said yesterday that when he’s away, not only does (or should that be ‘did’?) Katie have a CO$ ‘watcher’ with her always, but he has (had?) someone check the daily photos taken by the paps to make sure she was wearing her wedding ring!!!

“Kate has filed for divorce and Tom is deeply saddened and is concentrating on his three children. Please allow them their privacy.”

Liar. ? More like:
“Kate has filed for divorce and Tom is going batsh*t crazy.”

I wonder what that man did when he found out. How long did it take him to make that first phone call to David Miscav*? I assume the Scientolonuts have been released on Katie. I hope she has bodyguards just in case.

Maybe they would act even if TC asked them not to. Does anyone know iof Nicole Kidman was harrassed by them when she left?

It’s funny that all Tom’s working away from his family in the end was his undoing. I’m sure Katie and Tom talked about separation. Heck maybe they were separated. They had not been together for a long time. Just like Johnny and Vanessa. I think during all that alone time Katie starting liking it. Liked it just being her and Suri. She flew Suri in on occasion to see her father but nothing else. They to my belief were doing a trial separation. And while Tom was yet again working Katie was planning and made her move. This is exactly what women that are in abusive or really bad relationships do. They plan. They don’t just go without knowing their next step. Tom was blindsided. I think he thought they would spend time together during his b-day. I bet Katie made him think it. So that is why he flew out of the country. Because there is no way Tom would have done so if he knew Katie was going to file for divorce.

and Tom is planning his next move. Anyone that thinks he is not going to fight for joint custody is out to lunch.

I think Tom and the cult new somthing was up, Tom wasen’t thier for Suri 6 birthday and Katie didn’t fly out to New Orleanls so Suri could spend her b-day with her father. When normaly Katie would plan some big photo op birthday party like they did for the last 5 years and know matter were Tom was filming or not he would be their. Not to mention Katie not being there for Tom’s big award two weeks ago. Those out of character behavior must have sent off some big red flag for Tom and the cult. My guess is that he know she was planing somthing but didn’t know what, but as extra punctuation he talk up the love he has for Katie.

Also notes how hard Tom’s PR team have been working on winning people over by changing up his image during his Rock Of Ages promotion. It work to people started falling for Tom again and most headlines read Tom finally got over the Oprah couch jumping. Funny how his PR people would work so hard to chage his image for a low budget film but not the 145 million film M.I.P 5. when after the big hit it was and it shown that people would still pay to see him.

I think Katie’s father knew Tom was starting to suspect somthing was up and filed for divorce, with Tom being out of the country was perfect timing.

The real question is what has Tom and the cult been planing? There have been to many red flags for it not to go unnotest by Tom or Cult, i mean really they didn’t get we’re the are to day by being stupid and blind.

She was love-bombed in a huge way by her childhood idol. I don’t think many people would have been able to stand up to that. I’m very glad she came to her senses though.

My advice would be to not just cut every Scientologist she knows out of her life, but to cut out EVERYBODY she has met since the Tom Cruise/Co$ crazyball started. It might be sad if there’s people in there who Suri likes, but it’s a known tactic of the cult to have ‘sleeper agents’ in the entourage/staff of people they want to control. Suri is practically considered Co$ royalty, they will spy, they will use everything they can and make up more, and it may come from sides Katie isn’t expecting.

You guys are too funny. I had been wondering what the cracken would do to get attention. I think only death could trump tomkat’s divorce shenanigans. I just love that somebody pointed out that he is filming a movie call “Oblivion” and was photographed flying high in a helicopter. Total disconnect from reality. Katie is looking smarter and smarter by the minute.

I’m sure getting Suri away from Scientology is one reason for the split but there could be others. 1) a workaholic husband who is always away shooting movies 2) life in a fishbowl because you’re married to Tom Cruise 3) a 17 year age difference.

All in all, I am surprised it lasted this long. If Katie has the say in Suri’s upbringing post-divorce, does that mean she (Suri) will be completely shielded from Scientology? Tom will have visitation…

First of all I can’t wait for katie to write a tell-all book about everything she has been through!!
I always considered her a stupid woman for being so keen on getting into Scientology, but now i really admire her for doing things in the dark and drop the divorce bomb while she has already moved to a new Ny apartment, safely with her daughter and while her husband is far away on business. I think her father will fight all those creepy lawyers very well and hopefully this will be the beginning of the end of Scientology. Maybe the system will start to crack and all those creepy people will be exposed to a big scandal, hopefully they’ll end up in jail. This is far worse than being religious, this is being brainwashed.

Being an Atheist, I find it amusing how quick other theists are to denounce Scientology, as if their religion is so superior or something. I can’t stand any religion to be honest, but it is amusing to see how judgmental certain theists are, calling any religion they don’t believe in a “cult” and “evil”. Pot= meet kettle. I could care less about Tommygirl or Katie, I’m more intrigued by how Scientology is taking a bad rep

I’m an agnost (and a pretty apatheistic one at that) and I don’t have much time for any organised religion, but there’s going to church/temple/mosque/whatever and praying and there’s this calculated for-profit ponzi scheme which actively abuses people and sucks them dry. The only other one I know of that comes (pretty) close is Mormonism, which was also started by a conman, only that has less active abuse, malicious litigation and suspicious deaths connected to it. And they don’t make you sign a waiver that you can’t sue them if they injure or kill you in the line of their ‘religion practices’. (http://jeta.home.xs4all.nl/scn/scans/Introspection-Release.html)

Besides, even if other things are just as bad, why wouldn’t people object to this badness?

But I still don’t get why Scientology is being singled out. I’ve heard bad things happening in all religions! Why is acceptable to tear this one down, without fear of being insulted, but to criticize any other religion would spark countless debates. That’s what confuses me. I just can’t figure out what makes it worse than any other religion

Because it SHOULDN’T be a religion. It was admittedly by its creator, created to be a tax haven. His religion is based on Satanism and science fiction.
No other religion kidnaps people who want to leave, tortures it’s own, spies on every member. What about that is religion? He admits it is all to make money. The audits, the emeters, the full divestment of people’s fortunes and lives and families. They have to give it all up.

What religion does this? What do they worship? They don’t even get the full Xenu story until they reach the highest levels, which most never do. Tom was said to be pissed when he found out.

I encourage you to read up on this cult, this grand con. It’s failing, big time. It is only a matter of time.

Scientology is indeed a horrible, horrible cult. All you have to do is read a few of the articles and books by very learned people who got sucked in early on, spent millions on utter quackery, but learned the hard way what a violent, greedy bastard David Miscavige is and how controlling Scientology is. To call it a religion is an insult to authentically religious people. Once many years ago in a weak and depressed moment, I went with a Scientologist friend to do the “tin can” interview. I soon realized that it was a crock of utter sh*t, but those maniacs wouldn’t leave me alone for months after. I was called, visited, subtly threatened that I was not a well person and only Scientology could help me, if I paid several thousand dollars for a course. So no, Kortni, you cannot equate this kind of brain-washing with any normal religion or accuse theists of denouncing something out of a sense of superiority.

Don’t know if you are trolling or not, but, the following links may shed a little light on this horrific cult for you. BTW, the last link is part one of a series of 4-you may google parts 2-4 if you want to continue.

I think you guys aren’t getting what I’m saying. I know Scientology is evil, like any other religion, but what I don’t get is why theists are being so hypocritical about it. There is no such thing as a “good” religion, so why throw shade when your religions track record isn’t squeaky clean as well?

“Other groups do bad things, so it’s totally okay that this one group also does bad things!”

This talking point is old and worn out. I’ve seen OSA use it dozens of times, and it never works. It amuses me that a group that claims to teach people how to communicate better doesn’t have a clue how to do PR.

@jaded – it was the textbook reply-without-actually-responding style that says ‘please, reply to me, waste your time and energy trying to convince me’ that gave it away.

Most likely Kortni is in an OSA (Office of Special Affairs) room somewhere, tasked with following topics about the cult and trying to derail, distract and generally waste the time and energy of people who are critical of the cult.

Banana! You guys aren’t as smart as I thought if you think I’m trolling. I’m a 17 year old Ohio girl. I’ve never heard about Scientology until now, and it has a large following so I assume it’s a religion. I don’t like any religion, so trying to dissociate it from religions doesn’t mean much to someone like me who has a low opinion of all of them in general. If you ask me they’re all cults.

I meant “bahahahaha” as in lol…damn autocorrect. The amount of paranoia on this thread is alarming, you really think they’d send someone to troll this site,of all the gossip sites in the world? You all still aren’t answering my question! What makes Scientology so much worse than any other religion?

“I’ve never heard about Scientology until now, and it has a large following so I assume it’s a religion.”

How have you managed not to hear of Scientology until now? If you’ve never heard of Scientology until now, why would you believe it has a large following? What does being 17, a girl, and from Ohio have to do with anything at all? If you’re trying to claim you’re innocent, ignorant, and naive because you’re (as you say) a 17-year old girl from the Midwest, as someone who was once a 17-year old girl from the Midwest myself, I find that laughable.

@Kortni: For a superb primer on Scientology, seek out Janet Reitman’s book, Inside Scientology. Also look at what has been published in the New Yorker, including the story on Paul Haggis. Look forward to your thoughts.

@Kortni – I get what you’re saying and yours is a valid question – What makes Scientology so much worse than any other religion? There are two parts to your question. One, why is it worse than any other organization or religion and two, whether or not it is a religion.

I’m beginning to read more on CO$ now and from what I understand, CO$ financially abuses its members. Most of what I’ve read so far points out to, among other things, financial fraud by the CO$. Second, there’s no free or easy exit option from CO$. That means harassing members who wish to exit and also cutting off ties with family members who do not believe in CO$. So it’s not democratic. Of course, other religions can also be accused of being non-democratic; however, with the evolution of other major religions over several thousand years, people have a choice to accept or renounce these religions. This can, however, be countered by saying that other religions also had radical views at the early stages of their evolution. Third, there are other problems like auditing members, keeping a file on them for purposes of blackmail etc. Again, some of these tactics of emotional abuse have occurred in other religions at their early stages. At their present forms, one has a choice or considerable freedom to get deeply involved in a particular religion or renounce it.

On the question of whether CO$ is a religion or not – it has its own beliefs and practices, it’s take on spiritual life and faith in a higher power etc. I have to read more on CO$’s beliefs and practices. Perhaps it’s quasi-religious? I don’t know. I have to read some journal articles on this by scholars from religious studies to come to some kind of conclusion.

Bottom line, I don’t have a clear yes/no answer to your question. My own opinion on religion is that it’s a flight to fantasy. I believe in the power of humans to achieve, to excel and to be courageous. I am more inclined to believe in a worldview which places human begins at the centre. At the same time however, I’ve also seen that spiritual faith or just faith in something higher has worked for some people, like my mother. What keeps me from rejecting God all together is her faith. I respect her faith, but I still don’t practice or pray.

I’m anti any group that abuses people, lies to people, enslaves people, illegally imprisons people, keeps people away from medical care, steals from people, forces families to separate, and is based on lies.

@Rose – I don’t think Katie set him up. I don’t think either of them planned this from the start. I don’t believe, rather I don’t want to believe the fake-marriage-contract theory. I want to believe that they were in love and I guess a part of it is because it bums me to think that these people live their lives scheming all the time, even though it may very well be the reality. I think Katie loved him and he loved her, and now Katie wants out of it. Most of us know the choices we have made or someone we know has made when it comes to love. They don’t turn out right always. My sister got into a relationship with a man when she was young – 17/18 years old. She was so “in love” that she tolerated his mental and physical abuse for four years and she supported him against our family. She thought she could change him but finally realized that all this changing business is horseshit. She walked out of it after five years by seeking our support. By then however the damage was done – she lost her years in college and she had to start from scratch. I suppose it’s the same with Katie – heady in love, not knowing if she understands CO$ or if she can commit to it in a way Cruise wants her to, and finally deciding that she cannot.

1. A religion or religious sect generally considered to be extremist or false, with its followers often living in an unconventional manner under the guidance of an authoritarian, charismatic leader. (yup)
2. A usually nonscientific method or regimen claimed by its originator to have exclusive or exceptional power in curing a particular disease (CoS claims they can cure any problem you have.)
3. Obsessive, especially faddish, devotion to or veneration for a person, principle, or thing. (yup)
4. They are subject to entrapment (isolation from friends, relatives and the mainstream culture) and their access to information is severely controlled.
5. (Sociology) a quasi-religious organization using devious psychological techniques to gain and control adherents

The Manolo is correct. Any tell-all will come out in 20 years and be authored by Suri – if there is one at all. The only currency Katie has to trade for Suri is any top secret info that she knows. She won’t mess with that. The child comes first as she should.

i dont know. im all on katies side because i h ope this will help to bring down Co$ and free their victims but i also dont like to make her such a big victim. “she was in love”. yes with the money and fame and better movie roles. its not like tom was a regular sweetheart and suddenly turned into a maniac.

it could get huge but i doubt they want bad news to get out so they will play cool with her. she is just too well known through this to really get her without an even bigger backlash. those people are not stupid and thats why they are so dangerous.

I don’t think that is the case at all. I believe they were genuinely in love at the beginning and she either didn’t realize how deep into CO$ he was, or thought she could change him. Now she is at a point where she knows he won’t change and her child’s welfare is on the line. Of course she has to go. And Katie is a victim: of the CO$. But then, so is Tom. Let’s not lose sight of the real bad guy in this… I feel sorry for both Tom and Katie who are equally victims of this vile cult. I may even feel more sorry for Tom because at least Katie is getting out relatively unscathed.

As expected, Tommy will be filing for divorce in CA and asking NYS to halt proceedings. Radar put the law up for anyone to see. How long has Katie lived in New York? It seems to me she has lived there for over a year and only left to go to MI promos with him in December. I think Katie may have a good argument for keeping proceedings in New York. She seems to be getting some decent legal advice. Only time will tell.

Apples and oranges. Kelly Preston is there voluntarily. If anything, she is even deeper into CO$ than Travolta is. Kelly didn’t marry into it. She and Travolta were both already members of CO$ when they married. Whatever Kelly has been through, she went into voluntarily and with eyes wide open.

let’s also not forget the gay rumors. But there will always be someone who wants the fame enough to put up with all of it.
Always! I also thought of Julianne Hough.
I don’t think even Jennifer Love Hewitt would be that desperate. The couch jumping thing never bothered me that much but the video of him discussing Scientology really shows what a crazy he really is.

The more I read, the more it sounds like this was a crazy cloak-and-dagger kind of escape for Katie. I mean, if she really did have nearly-constant CO$ minders, I imagine she had to pull some interesting maneuvers just to get all this lined up.

And what happens if Tom files for divorce in CA, but Katie’s already filed in NY? (As I just read somewhere else). What happens when there are competing divorce filings in different states with different laws?

I don’t usually comment (certified lurker, unfortunately) but I think after reading stories of what distress this cult causes to children, all I can say is I pray Suri doesn’t have to go through this abuse. Here is a story from a website that spotlights stories of children that escaped from scientology. It is heart-wrenching.

In essence legal custody governs the right of a parent to make decisions regarding medical care, schooling and religion. Scientology would play a part in decisions made in all 3 areas. Thus, it appears quite clear that “the church” was the main factor in Katie’s decision to request sole legal.

By the way, every time I see someone post that Katie asked for sole custody the ugh’s come out. She asked for sole legal and what we in Cali call primary physical custody. There is a big difference between between legal and physical custody. I’m a Cali family law attorney and I’ve had clients awarded joint legal and sole physical custody. I actually have a client who recently was awarded sole legal and physical custody. The guy had had several dui’s and a domestic violence conviction where my client was the victim and a second DV case pending. But the biggest factor was probably the fact that he did not file any Responses to my various motions nor did he show up for any of the hearings. So, even in Cali sole legal is not impossible to get.

On the gold digger issue—I don’t think that it is so clear cut that money/fame was Katie’s motive. This is not an Anna Nicole/80 year old man situation. Tom Cruise is by all accounts very charming, charismatic and extremely intense and many people find him to be handsome. Katie could easily have been bowled over and in a marriage before she knew what hit her. I can even see her being told that Scientology gets a bad rap in the press and not to believe the hype and Tom only exposing her to the mildest aspects of the Church until it was too late.

Why are people calling Katie a golddigger? Didn’t he recruit her? It is my understanding that he interviewed several women for the role of being his robot-bride and Katie accepted. I can’t stand Katie but I have new respect for her now for finally getting a backbone. I wonder though if she truly wants Suri away from that psycotic freakish dwarf why ask for any child support? Wouldn’t it send a bigger message to ask for full legal and physical custody and no child support stating you just want to protect your child from the influence of the cult? I mean we know she has plenty of money.

C0$ is slowly being exposed for what it is, a cult. Think Katie probably entered into it with a lot of naivety. She is exiting with a plan. The out of the nowhere divorce, the secret apartment. All probably planned for a long-time. She was slowly rebelling and guess we the audience didn’t see it. She is behaving much like an abuse victim escaping their abuser. I’m excited about seeing the C0$ being exposed more than the actual divorce. Bet they thought they had a weak vessel with Katie and they could do anything they wanted with her. She’s beginning to look like a hand-full. She not only surprised Tom, she has probably surprised the hell out of C0$. Run Katie, Run!

Radaronline is reporting that Tom is going to file for divorce in Cali. And will request that the proceedings be halted in NY because their primary residence is Cali.. not NYC.

Radar is skeevy but they may be right.
per radar..

“At the same time, Tom will file for divorce in California, and will most request joint custody of Suri. There is absolutely no way that he is going let Katie have sole custody. The lines are being drawn, and this is going shape up to be a very contentious custody battle,” a source says.
*****************

I hope Katie and Suri are in hiding.. because the paps are going to be all over her and that baby.

With respect to the ‘who is Suri’s bio dad’ question I never understand the logic behind the theory that Tom’s cousin MUST be her bio dad because she looks just like him. If she is Tom’s bio kid, why wouldn’t Suri look like another blood relative. My brother is the spitting image of my maternal grandfather while I am my dad’s mini-me. As a result my brother and cousin look much more like siblings than my brother and I.

The theory is that Tom is sterile, thus making it impossible for him to be Suri’s bio dad. Thus, the furthered theory is that they orchestrated a blod relative donor so that she WOULD look like Tom, thus throwing the masses off the scent, so to speak. This seems beyond farfetched to me, but that is the theory.

Personally, my money is on Chris Klein. In my own version of the truth, Katie is already pregnant when she agrees to be Tom’s stunt wife. They agree to say the baby is his, and so it goes. Chris Klein looks enough like both Tom and Katie to make the resemblance to Tom plausible.

Although I’m not persuaded one way or the other, I appreciate the argument that Tom’s not the bio dad. I can understand the Tom shoots blanks/is asexual/Chris Klein is the dad theories. I just don’t understand the reasoning behind the theory that because Suri looks like her uncle he MUST be her bio dad. Your ‘stand-in’ argument makes sense but the way it is stated by most people, the mere fact that Suri looks like her uncle is prima facie evidence that he’s her bio dad.

But didn’t Nicole K admit that she had two miscarriages while married to Tom. The first one when they first married and the second one right before he filed for divorce. I believe Suri is his biological daughter, to me she looks just like him.
But then again, Mimi Rogers referring to her marriage to Tom, said that she obviously wasn’t the one who had fertility problems after she became pregnant by her then boyfriend Chris Ciaffa. Who knows..

Wouldn’t a DNA test be the simplest thing in the world, then? For Katie, it would prove that Tom wasn’t actually Suri’s father and he would have no decisions in her future. Right? Not sure how it work sbut it seems like that would be right.

I’ve never understood that either. My mom’s side of the family has two people with blond hair and blue eyes and other features that aren’t obviously from their parents or grandparents. Does that mean my grandmother had an affair and one of my aunts isn’t my grandfather’s biological child? Does it mean another of my aunts had an affair and her son isn’t her husband’s biological child? Of course not.

Plus I think Suri looks as much like her father as like her mother — a lot — so there’s another level of “huh?” added to it.

In all this coverage, I saw a photo somewhere of Suri and she looks SO much like Tom. When she was younger, not so much, but now she really does. As willing as I am to believe there was something odd there, I do think she’s his biological child.

I know. She’s looking more and more like Tom lately. Plus Nicole said last year in an interview she miscarried twice with Tom. She mentioned it in passing when talking about her difficulties trying to get pregnant with Keith and considered Sunday Rose a miracle.

Did anyone else notice how in her statement, she refers to herself as ‘Katie’, & in his he refers to her as ‘Kate’? It always freaked me out how he did that, it never seemed like a cute nick-name or anything, but like him trying to mould her into someone else…

Cover blown? What you been smokin? I never stated I know everything about every religion, all I know is that the most popular ones, Christianity, Judaism, and Islam, I don’t like or agree with. Jeez, maybe you should read what I’ve written.

Kortni, I think part of the reaction to you is your insistence on having people summarize for you why COS is bad,or worse than other religions.
Some of this has already been done on some of the most recent TC/KH threads.

You’ve been given some excellent links to read. My suggestion would be to read them and make up your own mind.

I don’t know why he didn’t hook up with Erika Christensen. She was raised as a Scientologist. She calls Tom a mentor. She always comes across great in interviews, personable,, and if asked about Scientology, doesn’t go all kooky on it. Just says it gives her great tools, etc. She is Katie’s age. At least, someone like her would accept Tom’s obsessiveness and heavy involvement with Scientology. Plus, she’s pretty. I love her in the TV show Parenthood. Though, she might be too independent for Tom.

I am bothered by the comments that say Suri is already too “spoiled” to be rescued. Lots of people who were brought up in Scientology, who were treated as little adults from the time they were born, escape in adulthood and are good people. They tend to have a lot of trauma from their upbringing, rather than having been spoiled.

Because think about it: they’re treated like little adults. No one really raised them. They were punished like adults would be, audited like adults would be, expected to inform on their family members like adults would be, expected to work as hard and as long as adults would be, treated in every single way like adults would be, and yes, that includes sexually.

@Emily gurl please, I’m from a small bible belting suburb in Ohio. Not much to do here, and talking about any religion that isn’t Christiantiy is not one of those. Up until a few months ago I only got on reddit and meme sites, so yes, I am naive when it comes to things outside my town.

I’d beg to differ at highly intelligent. I never said I’d commented on these website before, today is my first day commenting, aren’t you aware of lurking? Anywho, I don’t need to validate or prove who I am to a bunch of paranoid housewives who honestly think someone would troll this website, this site, in defense of a religion. None of you answered my question, instead jumping on some offbeat bandwagon. Eh, I guess intelligence and empathy is hard to expect with you people who are too concerned about the life of a stranger.

Snowpea I believe you are right….there are a lot of intelligent people on-here. Its why its the only gossip site I visit. @kortni, you’re trying desperately to change the subject, passing it off to another religion. A first time poster, you say you knowing nothing about Scientology yet you have posted numerous times on the topic. Its suspicious…and others posters have the right to say it.

Kortni, you are very well spoken and even minded. People do not ‘like’ to hear anyone saying anything ‘opposed’ to what they themselves are saying, and resort to ‘name-calling’ and casting aspersions, such as what you have witnessed. You go girl. It’s my first time talking here too, and I have already been accused of being a ‘Scientology Plant,’ even after I have said it was a Cult. I just don’t find it any better or worse than any other cult. I suppose people that have been here a whole year making comments, consider ‘this’ their cult.

You know, trying to use prejudice against small Midwestern towns in order to defend your supposed ignorance is pretty gross and extremely transparent, especially to those of us who came from small Midwestern towns.

Pay attention! Katie is asking for sole LEGAL custody. This has to do with decision making ONLY. She asked for what is known in Cali as primary PHYSICAL custody. As noted below, this means Suri would live in one place as opposed to going from movie set to movie set, she would go to school instead of being home schooled on movie sets, she would have friends she would see on a daily basis, etc. Tom would get a visitation schedule. This DOES NOT preclude Tom from spending a significant portion of time with his child.

No matter what the cult has on Katie – NO MATTER WHAT – she should be proud, walk in public and admit to everything. Screw all the Hollywood types that are in it. There’s gotta be some directors out there that dislike it enough to give her work. IF that’s what she wants, anyway.

The fairy tale was over the minute she married his crazy a**. Just look at her evolution from that point on. She looked drab, dressed homely, defeated, beat down, sunk, sad, sullen, gray, insecure. Like she didn’t care about herself at all. The guy is not all that IMO. He’s a short, superficial nutcase. It was her right to stay with him, but there would be a cost. I suppose the rose colored glasses have finally come off.

You know the cult leaders are hopping around like fleas on a dog’s back. They know that Katie could bring in COS practices to prove why she doesn’t want Tom having custody. How do you think the courts would look at that huge list of questions they ask 6 year old kids for that sec interrogation? I wonder if they won’t advise Tom to bow out of this one before Scientology itself goes on trial. And it will. What else could she use for ammunition?

Bedhead, Really? There’s a ton of us who aren’t surprised at all. They had a contract. The contract is up. Same with Nicole. Remember when Tom also said he was blind-sided by his divorce from Nicole? B.S. This is what he does to look sympathetic. Nothing sympathetic about him – he made his bed and now he gets to lie in it, just like all the other humans on earth. PS – Jenn Love Hewitt is too old for him, I’m guessing.

Well, this article from sources seems probably right on point for the demise of the marriage. It was against raising her as a Scientologist, but also other things. Tom’s career kept him away a lot and Katie wanted him home more. As Suri has gotten older and them being on the road more, she knew her daughter needed a normal life with friends and playdates. She doesn’t want her homeschooled off on the road with Tom. She wants her settled. Reading this article, it makes me sick the way celebs give interviews raving about their marriage and each other and then, boom, it’s over. It happens over and over. I am paying no attention to these over-the-top-in-love couples anymore. It’s all for show. Nicole and Tom homeschooled theirs, so they were on the road a lot together. I don’t think Katie likes that lifestyle. I see her getting a TV show and putting down roots.

Hmmm…is the problem about their love for each other or lack thereof OR working out that love when working in the entertainment business? It’s tricky. I think these people, A-list stars among others, feel the need to have a family because it’s the one constant in their nomadic life. However, they also don’t want to commit to the family in a way that takes them away from their work, which means money, fame and power. Again, it’s not always about money and fame, I think some of them like their craft. Not everyone can be a Daniel Day-Lewis, who vanishes off from the face of the planet and comes back only if he thinks he can do “justice” to a role. Why don’t we change the equation a bit? What if both Tom and Katie were A-list stars like the Brange? Do you think Katie would have still insisted on Suri not being home-schooled? I’m not saying Katie is bitter about how her career has shaped so far and that she’s jealous of Tom’s career.

I think that Tom probably was going to divorce her anyway because of his pattern of divorcing his wives when they hit the 33 year old mark. I think Katie knew this.

So Katie had two choices. Either let Tom file first in California where he might have a better chance at getting joint physical custody or she file first in NY so that she might have a better chance at getting sole physical custody.

I know there is no religion without a dark side to it, but you have to understand the darker events in the light of the era they took place in. I can not understand how this scientology thing is allowed to even exist in these days or how some people compare it to christianity!? Really? It’s ok if you compare it to the “christian” behaviour of the darker ages,but thats why we call it the dark ages (medieval christianity, inquisition, etc.). Maybe it’s a cultural thing, maybe christianity in the United States is wacky, but in Europe (some pedophile priests and some stupid stuff the pope says aside) it has no negative consequences whatsoever and people are actually more and more agnostic because nowadays no one gives a shit about religion here (in Europe). I am agnostic, but I think it is a terrible mistake to compare christianity (modern christianity) to scientology, UNLESS it really works in a different way in the USA, honestly I have no knowledge on that, I admit. I didn’t know much about scientology before I came across these news, I did my research and I am truly shocked. Why would anyone join that? Who would want to raise a child in such a terrible, terrible society? Why aren’t the children protected? Just because their parents are scientology freaks, they are suffering, jeez I have always had a (kind of a) good opinion on the USA justice system, mainly because the one in my country sucks and all criminals get away so easily it’s ridiculous, but the USA government should protect the children from crazy parents with crazy religions!

Thank you Lizi, you are correct. Christianity is the same in the US as it is in the UK or wherever.

$cientology had been building its horrible empire quietly in the background for decades before TC jumped on the couch and snapped at Matt Lauer. Only recently have their obfuscation efforts been exposed. Bottom line: it just takes a very long time for some devious tax-dodging orgs with high-powered lawyers and spies fueled by stolen money from their brainwashed robots to get caught.

I can only hope and pray the government finally shuts this crap down and throws the leaders in jail and tosses away the key forever. I truly hate this horrible group and they need to be dissolved – a long time ago.

Thanks for your reply, I was kinda confused because some people seemed to be comparing both religions. I do hope the government shuts it down! I am actually from Portugal and although some people here are total ignorant freaks regarding politics,economical issues,corruption (it goes on and on) fortunately weird religion is not amongst them, therefore I was VERY VERY SHOCKED with scientology! I hope you get rid of it fast, because those scientology leaders who control so many people can (kind of) be compared to our politicians (here we have a lot, A LOT of politicians that are corrupt, power seeking, country-bankrupter suckers), and these kind of people are official destroyers of mankind.

Lizi – $cientology isn’t really a “religion”, it’s a Ponzi scheme-run brainwashing cult that through its backhanded methods has disgustingly gained tax-free status by calling itself a church, and it also steals the cross symbol from Christianity, and a broken version of the Judaic Star of David, just to make it look better to the weak people who join. None of them will admit it though.

While Tom’s marriage is falling apart, Nicole and Keith are looking adorable. He is on The Voice in Australia, so they are living over there while he’s been shooting. Such cute and happy photos of them out for her 45th birthday a week ago.

When will somebody/someone finally come out of the closet with all of Scientology’s boogeyman secrets?? this ‘church’ more and more sounds like an incredibly deceptive cult, “but folks like John Travolta and Kirstie Alley are Scientologists!!! it’s got to be OK.” somehow they mesmorize their celeb believers in order to portray to the world how…cool they are?? i don’t know the word for it..just that story about that woman being held hostage, blah blah…come on!!!

lastly, if she could telegraph that emotion into her acting now…she’s cute/bubbly but those pics are HARD

the real terror to come out of this debacle is that it’ll spur Tommy to create movies at three x’s his speed now, to keep busy/mind off it.

When she agreed to marry him, she knew what she was getting into. She is a smart girl, but somewhere along the way, she has now decided against Scientology for her and her child, which is the right thing to do, to get as far away from that as she can. Maybe she knew he would make her rich, but she went into the marriage full well knowing what would be expected of her. Other than money and fame, I don’t know why she would have agreed to marry him under the circumstances.

As a few others have discussed, I don’t actually think she had a clue what she was getting into. I think she was star-struck, naive and actually thought she was in love with Tom. There wasn’t as much info about the Co$ floating around as there is now… and her indoctrination was gradual, as it is in most cults. Even worse, her ‘love’ for Tom probably blinded her to a point, and made it easier for him to rationalize certain things that might have usually set warning bells off… such as trying to keep her away from her friends and family (especially early on… easier to get the hooks in if there aren’t any of those SP’s getting in the way!), and having her under constant supervision by Co$ handlers. When you are in love (or think you are), you have rose-colored glasses on, and will believe some insane *hit. This isn’t a new concept. Many intelligent women have fallen for (what seem to be) wonderful, charming men… only to overlook odd behaviors early on, and then little red flags… rationalizing… and later find themselves trapped in horrible, abusive relationships. Even then, some of these women remain for various reasons… denial, fear, etc. From the outside, looking in, it seems crazy… ‘get the hell out!’, right? Apparently, it isn’t that simple though.

Several perceptive authors have written that the tactics used by cults to control people are the same tactics used by abusive men (and women) to control their spouses/lovers.

Separating you from your friends and family, controlling your day-to-day activities, and limiting your financial resources are major goals of both cults and individual abusers. Often, they are subtle about it until they’ve gained enough control. They lower your self-worth and make you feel like you have no options. You become entirely dependent on the abuser/cult. At this point, they won’t bother to disguise the manipulation and the abuse is increased.

Decent people have a tendency to give others the benefit of the doubt and we assume that they have the same good intentions we have. Manipulators and sociopaths, with their lack of conscience, rely on this and take advantage whenever possible. Being caught up in the early stages of romance can blind us further. Even after seeing their dark side, many want to believe that we can bring out the good side that these people initially displayed, never realizing that it was all an act and the dark side is their true character.

Whether Tom is truly evil or not, I certainly don’t know. But I do think Katie came into that relationship with romantic stars in her eyes and an understandable amount of naiveté (she was still in her twenties, after all). I’m glad she finally sees the reality of her situation and is getting out. She’s learning a painful life lesson, but better now than later, especially for her daughter’s sake.

Scientology needs to be banned and lose its rights as a tax-exempt religion. I wish Katie all the luck and legal power. She’s going to need it in her fight against Tom and that despicable cult.

I’m old enough to remember when Mimi Rogers said Tom was STERILE. He didn’t impregnate her, he didn’t impregnate Nicole, and I do believe Katie was already pregnant when they hooked up. Don’t forget the no birth certificate filed timely, a baby carriage was seen on their property several months before she gave birth officially, etc. Lots and lots of red flags for all of this.

I remember the same. Specifically, Mimi Rogers said he stopped having sex with her in order to preserve, in his words (as she reported them), “the purity of his instrument”, and the reason given for his adopting children with Nicole was that he had a low sperm count.

Which is why I was surprised when Nicole said after they divorced that she had had two miscarriages, and that Katie was pregnant so soon after the start of their relationship. I figured even if they had had fertility treatment, it would have taken a little longer. I would love to know the whole story about TC, and I’d like to think it will all come out one day.

Many posters’ view of “devout Catholics” and “Catholic guilt” seem foreign to me, and I survived 16 years of Catholic education. All parents try to guilt trip their kids in their own ways, regardless of religion or lack thereof. Nothing new there. But my devout Catholic mother said decades ago that people should live together before marrying and that out in the country, everybody waited to get pregnant before planning a wedding. The whole idea of regular folks marrying is relatively recent – most Irish Catholics in England a few centuries ago didn’t partly because the law said they would gave to pay a Protestant minister to do it… Not a big deal when you don’t have property or noble titles to pass on. An individual family may be horrified , but that’s not really about religion but rather bad luck choosing your parents…The Vatican doesn’t believe in contraception but Catholics sure do. A papal encyclical on the topic came out while I was in a Catholic college- I can’t remember any female students agreeing with it, and they’re grandmothers now with much smaller families than their ancestors of any religion. The rhythm method actually can be quite effective for many women and has no side effects – but I can guarantee that this is not the method most Catholics have used. Catholics get lots of abortions also (opposition to abortion is relatively recent also, it was a non-issue for the Church for a very long time and medical manuals included ideas about inducing miscarriage). Oh, Catholics also get divorced and remarried. People follow their own consciences in such matters. Believe me, the Vatican only has as much influence as the regular Catholics care to let it, here or anywhere. Quite frankly, I’ve seen far more flexibility among Catholics than among many Protestants. It’s a complicated and very old church with a lot of different people in it, official change comes slowly but steadily when enough people want it but meanwhile people do what they want. Don’t confuse it with Co$, which is really rigid and scary and based on a science fiction writer’s scam that he probably started believing, or even Protestant fundamentalism (which also scares the heck out of me). Heretic though I am, I have no regrets being raised as Catholic. Suri should be so lucky.

I hate it when people make broad sweeping statements and assumptions about a group! This is done often in relation to Religion or faith (which is quite diverse). People forget there are individual family units/individuals included who have their own minds and views. For example, my mum was a Jehovah Witness, but she still celebrated all our birthdays and Christmas. She also gave blood regularly and was willing to accept blood!

I don’t think Katie’s decision to marry Tom had anything to do with Catholism. I think she was head over heels in love and was in to deep to back out when she began to realise she was making a mistake. I hope she and Suri remains safe during this process.

There is definitely another facet of this marriage that must have contributed to it’s predictable demise: Tom Cruise is gay. He STRONGLY prefers men. Perhaps katie had a few hot times with tommy boy, but after, what, 5 years, her sex life must have been miserable.

Lots of Scientology people just got banned. We had four of them on different threads. At the very least, they were new trolls, and trolls get banned too. I’m sure they put the word out to defend themselves. Here’s one that’s particularly telling “Bigotry includes religious bigotry, too!”
Wikipedia did the same thing:http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/05/29/wikipedia_bans_scientology/

Thanks CB, et al for keeping it as Troll free as possible. At this point, I think I’m the worst troll on here.

This is turning out to be a not good year for $cientology. They are being exposed from so many different directions and so many people are wising up to their lies and tricks. They are being cast in so many negative ways. Now they are losing control over their ability to portray themselves in different media outlets. I really hope this is the beginning of the end for this scamming cult.

Thanks CB – It was almost comical to read the posts, but when that supposed “17 year old from a small bible belt town” called us “paranoid housewives”, well them is fighting words! Ha!

Do you think they are given a manual on ways to troll sites, personas to take on and tactics (transparent to most of us on here) to make it seem like they are part of the conversation and backwards ways of defending their organization? Do they have a DOT (Division of Trolls) at the COS?

Mia, hell yes! They write idiot manuals for absolutely everything – they have to. The people cannot think for themselves. Their sense has been wiped by all the psycho procedures the Co$ puts them through.

I’ve been trying to imagine what Katie’s life has been like over the last few years and it gives me chills. Without a doubt, she was young when he targeted her (I love how often this word comes up in discussions about them!) and, like most young people, probably thought she knew more about the world than she did. I can only guess how the intensity we saw him pour on her in public was amplified in private. He was so in LOVE, she was PERFECT, he had NEVER FELT like this before (jump, jump, fist pump, maniacal laugh…). The whirlwind nature of it all. The globe trotting. The lights and cameras. The deep eye contact that says ‘you are all I see’. The ‘love bombing’. Oprah! Enormous crowds going crazy. Getting pregnant. Wow. He was the biggest movie star in the world at that stage. He was charismatic and powerful. And he was much older.

I’m sure they were very crafty when it came to her introduction into CO$. Nothing too threatening to begin with. More ‘suggestion’ and manipulation and institutional ‘love bombing’. “Welcome! We love you! Tom loves you sooooo much! You must be so happy, you wonderful person you. We are all so happy! Gosh. Isn’t barley water terrific?!?”

I think we got a glimpse of the ‘real’ Tom during the Lauer interview. I shudder at the thought of living and trying to raise a child with that. And slowly waking up to the realization that new ‘friends’ are ‘minders’ willing to rat out my every spoken thought? Having people scan tabloids to make sure I am dressed okay and wearing my wedding ring? Having the paranoia that seems to define Scientology take over my life? It seems very, very psychologically abusive.

Re Suri, I’m slowly changing my opinion on Katie’s parenting choices. It is hard raising a child, especially a head strong one. Being pressured/coerced/bullied into treating that child as an equal by people like Tom it probably often feels like it is just easier to go along. It would certainly explain some of the weird comments she has made. And I can’t bring myself to fault her anymore for how much she carries Suri because the child so often seems like she is hiding from the cameras when it happens.

CB: THANK YOU FOR BANNING THE TROLLS. They were relentless and it gave the tiniest insight into what Katie has endured over the years!

i agree with you. cos is not going to start off w the crazy stuff, like any cult, they prob lure you in bit by bit. i don’t believe katie was w tom for the money, i believe she was naive and in love. so go, katie, go!

I read every day. You can give me a pop quiz and I can pass it, lol. I have just started to get the nerve to post and then bam it’s a good subject to post on. I really don’t have much to say on Lindsay, LeeAnn or Kim. I am too busy drooling over Fassy to post.

I am in the forty age set. I remember Tom from my 80′s teen movies. He was always “hyperactive” back then. Remember how scary good he was in Taps?

Tom has always been sweet in his public persona. He’s intense, takes control of things & so deeply embedded in CO$ he’s not coming back. I never had a thing for Tom but I thought he was a decent person back in the day. I think his abusive autocratic Father left a mark on him and he got in an abusive cult that defined him.

I do think he has become emotionally abusive and a control freak to everyone around him. I hope he didn’t physically abuse Katie but she and the handlers are the only one who know that truth.

I have always loved Katie. She is a sweet girl who fell in love with an older charismatic man who could give her the world. I have been there and done that. She wised up real fast and it took her a long time to get out of that relationship, contract or not.

I do think that baby is Chris Klein’s. My son looked exactly like my current DH but they are not related. He still has my husband’s eyes and nose.

Chris is no catch either. I think she got pregnant and realized Chris was going to spend his life drunk and then Tom came in and rescued her. She went from one bad relationship to the next. I bet most of the girls posting on here have done it. I do believe she really loved Tom and he really loved her.

I am so happy for Katie. I am even more happy for Suri. You both go girls. I am 100% on her side. If Tom tries to take Suri I will roar like a lion with the rest of your supporters.

Agree on Chris Klein. He was all lushed up back then, and she probably became starry-eyed over the idea of her hero Tom Cruise stepping in to “save” her. That whole thing really came around to bite her in the ass, didn’t it?!

Wiki: “… the phrase is defined to mean affection that is feigned or with an ulterior motive and that is used to reduce the subject’s resistance to recruitment. … Abusers in romantic relationships also do this to victims in the early stages of a relationship, showering their partners with praise, gifts, and affection.”

CO$ isn’t the only group who does it. My only ‘real life’ experience with the practice was at a charismatic megachurch. It made my skin crawl.

Think of it as intense stalking but with love where the person is always in your face declaring love, gifting you with physical gifts, holidays in romantic cities, flowers, letters, meals, phone calls etc. They are determined to win you over.They give every impression that you are the most important, wonderful thing that’s ever happened to them and they want to make you happy, nothing is too much trouble for them….in a very short space of time. They only show you their good qualities. Generally they don’t give you time and space to think about the relationship or your feelings.

Once they have completely won you over, that’s when the bad side rears it’s ugly head leaving you completely shocked especially if you have committed yourself and can not get out easily.

The difference between love bombing and mere stalking is that you have romantic feelings for the person.

@Mich – it happened to my BFF except there was no church/religion involved. We couldn’t get over how intense her new guy was and at first we were all in awe of his romantic overtures. He wasn’t intense in a controlling way, just really enthusiastic with the romantic gestures. Probably watched every rom com going and proceeded to act them out. It really didn’t appear to be wierd at first. We thought that it was refreshing after all the toxic bachelors we had encountered. He proposed after 3mths. Poor lady said yes, at which point the other side of his personality came out. Thank god the marriage didn’t happen.

Oh! its so disappointing to revisit these threads to see the new comments— and see the dialogue has been completely destroyed and derailed by Scientology plants. Please, regulars and newbies, do not respond to obvious trolls who ask dopie questions. And lets not be drawn into debating the merits and sins of Catholicism- a conversation that is not novel, not germane to the key issues, and completely designed to polarize us and switch the topic. Its a trick, a distraction, a foil, and the Celebitchy Commentariat is too bright to fall for it. Do not feed the trolls, ignore them.

Drrrrrr.. takes her a while to catch on this guy is a flake but she did eventually.. and the fact that he’s nuts all over and not of the tree variety.. he is constantly trying stage hero antics, interviewing people for church, maybe to be his next wife.. busy busy and leaving her to suffer in silence on helping with her career.. apparently she’s not the right stuff to be his loyal, shut up and become invisible until I need you wife, really a blessing..

You can say anything you want to Tom Cruise but i think he is a good father.Just look how his children adores him.Adopting those elder kids and taking care of them , for me, proves how unselfish he is.He may be controlling but i think he is a good man.Don’t patronise Katie Holmes so much.We don’t know the real story yet.I think people and the media are being unfair to Tom.Too much speculation without any proof.Anyway. only people in the intenet are crucifying him.Those people I’ve talked to don’t care what the internet says.They still love him and still want to see his movies. OMG, I can’t believe I am defending Tom.This hate in the inernet made me sympathize with him.

What’s sad is Tom was once out of it. That famous actor who was as high up as Tom and John in the organization said Tom left it for a couple of years was brought back in when he was divorcing Nicole. And when he and Penelope split they put him on some ethics cleanse, something like that, and that’s when he was out crazily pushing Scientology in all those bizarre interviews and when Katie was brought in.

Obviously bring married to a huge movie star and all that entails might gave ended it anyway, but, unfortunately, for Katie she became involved with Tom at the height of his zealot-like immersion into Scientology.

On Zimbio.com, there is a photo of a building and the blurb accompanying the photo says:

‘Tom Cruise Has Katie Being Watched By Private Investigators’

Underneath the picture:

‘General Views of Katie Holmes new NYC apartment in Chelsea in New York City, New York on June 30, 2012. Private Investigators, allegedly hired by Tom Cruise, seem to be keeping tabs on Katie and her whereabouts. The constant surveillance of Katie has made her security team buy camera gear (video and photos) to keep track of the investigators. The private investigators have been hiding out in Escalades and a Mercedes SUV’

There’s actually 10 pictures and in the very last one there’s a close-up of the inside of one of those vehicles – with 2 NYPD caps on the dash.

I am not remotely interested who Katie dates next. Katie is one of the most uninteresting people I have ever seen interviewed. You cannot even begin to lay that all on Scientology. Nicole was always interesting and deep. Penelope gave an interview about Tom and other things. The same. Penelope has more than three adjectives in her vocabulary unlike Katie. Katie annoys me to no end from the get-go. Don’t get me wrong. I’m glad she didn’t turn her child over to Scientology and moved on. That still doesn’t make me interested in her next guy.

Now, Tom’s I will be fascinated by, which direction he takes next and him carrying on how they’re the love of his life. LOL. He’s very tactical. His career is big still and will pick accordingly. I can just see him and his PR team and Scientology all sitting around
tossing out names.

If you want to know anything about this divorce in terms of c0$, go to the VillageVoice and read Tony Ortega’s blog Running Scared, Radar talked to an attorney with no knowledge of the C0$ and since this is going to be in Family Court, her father is an attorney she was set up for a while to leave. In a way that she had the best chance of winning full custody. Tony Ortega has the best info based on the Scilon angle of this divorce.
Also, how blindsided can you been when your wife hasn’t been out with you for months, to movie premieres, Friar’s Club ICON award, or anything but a quick visit so he could see his daughter. He stayed at a hotel while in NY a couple of weeks ago never going to their apt, both photographed separately – he never went to their apt once, only she brought Suri to see him twice at his hotel. Really how shocking would this be when you no longer live together, and she’s been miserable for over a year, at least? I think the only thing shocking is he asked her to wait 6 months to file, because his schedule was full, and she didn’t do it, or that she didn’t do it two years ago when you could see she hated her life, and her marriage. This was all well planned, he gave her up front money, a dowry in a sense and she got her own apt, own employees who would won’t spy on her and in about a year she will have her career back on track, more money and her freedom and all he’s going to have is that crazy church, less money and supervised visits. I say GOOD! GOOD for her!

Anyone else disgusted by Katie Holmes’ greed and deceit? She knew Tom was a scientologist when she married him. Her family told her NOT to marry him. She can’t turn around now and play the victim card. If you ask me, Katie never loved Tom and always intended to use him for his money. She is an abusive mother because she was willing to have a baby (Suri) for more cash.

The thing is: Katie’s career is dead. Nothing she tried while with Tom worked out–clothing design, movies, dancing. He promised her a super star career and she’s a boring piece of broccoli. I wouldn’t recommend anyone getting involved with him if they actually want to work. If they want the paps and great clothes, then by all means…